a firm stand against monkeys and Italians—much to Fifi's relief.
The subject of Fifi's marriage to Louis was not touched upon by either Madame Bourcet or Louis in that week, although Louis continued to spend his evenings with his aunt and Fifi, and did not intermit the nightly game of cribbage. If it was imprudent to marry Fifi, it was likewise imprudent not to marry her—so reasoned the unhappy Louis, who, like Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, was of two minds at the same time, and fairly distracted between them.
But, if the Bourcets let the marriage question remain discreetly in the background, not so Fifi. Having discovered that Louis suffered acutely from her manifestations of affection, Fifi proceeded to subject him to a form of torture in high repute among the most bloodthirsty savages of North America. This consists in smearing the victim's body all over with honey, and then letting him be slowly stung to death by gnats and flies. Figuratively speaking, she smeared poor Louis with honey from his head to his heels, and then had a delicious joy in seeing him writhe under his agonies. And
