"It is true; it is quite true," said the Comtesse. "Oh, Dr. Jacqueline, I must confide in you. Listen and you will know all. Before I met my beloved husband, I was the well-known Ninon Lecoles and there was not an _établissement_ like mine in the whole of Arles, but behold! I met the old man, so gracious, so lonely, so neglected, and I exercised upon him a little piece of what the English would call the deceit. I told him of my wealth and he offered me his hand but only on condition that I would give up the _établissement_ which brought me in the francs in such multitudes. Monsieur, I pretended to agree, but oh, la! la! how could I give up my beautiful _établissement_; how could I keep this château as it is now and give _mon_ Alphonse his comforts? So I changed the name of the _établissement_ and called it no longer that of Ninon Lecoles, but the establishment unique of Madame Marcelle. But it was mine--mine all the time, kind _M. le docteur_. How could I keep this place going without it? And then when _la petite_ Comtesse came, she proved to have the gift _extraordinaire_, and she worked in my _établissement_ and does work there every day and she brings in the francs as they never came before. But we decided to keep the knowledge from the old man because he is weak and feeble. Ah, _M. le docteur_, what am I to do? If I give up my _établissement_, the death of _mon_ Alphonse will assuredly lie at my door and yet, if I keep it--Oh, doctor, counsel a wretched woman!" "You must keep the _établissement, sans doute_. _Votre mari_ has had a shock but he will not die. That girl was mean who told him, but I have just been removing the stings of bees from her and she will be much swollen and distressed for some days. There is no doubt whatever that she has got her punishment. Ah, and here comes _la petite_ Comtesse!" The little Comtesse stared in some astonishment at the doctor's motor-car, at _la belle_ grand'mère's tearful face and at the confusion which seemed to surround the hitherto peaceful place. "Oh, grand'mère," she exclaimed. "I have sold three thousand francs worth of goods for thee this morning. _Oui, très vrai_, with my own skill I did it! I would not look at Lady Hébé nor at Lady Dorothy, the ugly stuck-up things that they are. But I attended to the wives of the farmers and they paid cash down, grand'mère, and they are going to Paris all three of them in their new chapeaux and robes and fans. Ah, but I made the stout one look slim and the slim one a little _grosse, n'est ce pas_? And the whole of them elegant. And Dorothy and Hébé were fluttering round waiting for my judgment, but grand'mère, I gave it not. I would not speak to them; they offended me. I gave them my back, grand'mère."