Bordenave,
the director of the Theatre des Varietes, gave her a part in a play
called _La Blonde Venus_, and though her voice was poor and she
was ignorant of acting, she was by the sheer force of her beauty an
immediate and overwhelming success. All Paris was at her feet; Comte
Muffat, Steiner, the Prince of Scots himself, came in turn to offer
homage. It seemed as if this girl, born of four or five generations of
drunkards and brought up on the pavements of Paris, was to revenge her
race upon the idle rich by the wild extravagances into which she dragged
them. Muffat and Steiner were her lovers, and ruined themselves by
the vast sums which she squandered; Georges Hugon killed himself from
jealousy of his brother Philippe, who embezzled for her sake, and
brought himself to imprisonment and disgrace; Vandeuvres too, after
courting dishonour, met death at his own hand; and Foucarmont, stripped
bare and cast off, went to perish in the China seas. The procession was
unending; more money was always required. After a successful appearance
in a play called _Melusine_, Nana suddenly left Paris and went to the
East.
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