"_Mon_ grandpère must not touch me," she said, "for I am a pool of water. I met Matilda Raynes--she belongs to the school of la Princesse. May we go upstairs, grand'mère, and take off our dripping things, and when the storm gets less may a message be sent to la Princesse, and may I lend Matilda some of my clothes, grand'mère, until hers are dry? Ah, _tiens, le chapeau_, it is pulp!" She kicked the offending hat with her foot. A few minutes later, both little girls were lying warm and snug in Margot's bed. Margot told Matilda that she was nothing but a _bébé_, but that if she stopped crying she would try to get her another chapeau. "It shall be for nothing this time," said Margot. "Ah, thou little shop-keeper!" exclaimed Matilda, "thou little adorable one!" "Call me not shop-keeper, please. I am Comtesse St. Juste. Now lie still and I will get up and dress. Louise, see, has a message been sent to la Princesse de Fleury?" "Ah, _mais oui_, Comtesse!" replied Louise. "Then I will dress. I will wear my coral frock, and thou must get a white frock of mine and undergarments for mademoiselle. _Vite, vite_, Louise! Mademoiselle wants to get up." "I don't. I want to stay here forever," said Matilda, yawning not a little. "Thou lazy one," said Margot, "thou must be returned to the school." Louise went out of the room to return with the information that the bath was hot and ready for both _les petites_. Then the two children were dressed in Margot's clothes and Matilda flung her arms round Margot's neck and said, "Oh, but behold me of the most miserable! I am English and I do not like a French school, and I have a stepmother and I love her not, and my father is harsh and cruel. Will you not pity me, Margot? When the time comes for you to leave this so-called beautiful country of France, may I not come, too? I am learning to be a very bad girl at the school and I was always a bad girl at home, because of my stepmother and my harsh cruel father. Could you not get me to that castle of yours in beautiful Ireland? If I lived for even three or four weeks with you I might turn good, I might indeed." "I can't say," replied Margot, "I must think. There, thou art dressed and my clothes suit thee better than thine own. Hold thy head erect. See, I will dry thy hair and I will go now, this very minute, and speak to Madame, _ma belle_ grand'mère, about a chapeau for thee." "Ah, yes, yes," said Matilda. "You are noble, Comtesse. I love you, I could crawl at your feet." "But I should not wish it," said Margot. "I hate people that crawl. I want you to become good, and perhaps, God knows, it may be the right thing to do. Stay where you are, Matilda, and I will go and speak to grand'mère." She came back in a few minutes with a light dancing step. "Grand'mère _est un ange_. She will settle with Madame Marcelle and I will choose you a chapeau for nothing at all. I know the kind that will suit you. I can dispose of you in a moment."