"I asked you what you wanted, monsieur; for I don't know you." "Oh! I beg pardon, madame! I came to ask you--I am told that you do very fine linen work, and I wanted--I had some work to give you to do, if you chose to undertake it." "Who told you that I did linen work, monsieur?" "Why--a lady--for whom you have worked." "What is the lady's name?" I was sadly embarrassed. I stammered and stuttered, and finally replied: "Faith! I really don't remember. The lady told another lady, a friend of hers, who told me, because she knew I wanted some shirts made." "I am not very skilful, monsieur; and the person I work for must not be very exacting." "Oh! I am not at all exacting, madame; I want some shirts--to wear in the country. If you had the simplest kind of a pattern to show me." I took several steps forward; Mignonne allowed me to enter her garret; she seemed to have laid aside her distrust. I was conscious of a secret joy, and, while she was looking in a drawer, I took a chair, saying: "Excuse me, madame, if I sit down; but I came up rather rapidly, and the stairs are quite steep." "Pray rest, monsieur; I should have offered you a seat; but my room is not very cheerful, and it never occurs to me to do the honors. Dear me! I can't find any pattern. I remember now that the day before yesterday I returned the last shirts I had to make. But you have brought me a pattern, no doubt?" "No; I did not think of it." "But it is absolutely necessary." "I will bring you one, then." "If you will kindly hand it to the lady who gave you my address, monsieur, with the linen for the shirts, I will go there and get them; for, of course, you would not bring the package here yourself." She was determined to find out who had given me her address. In my earnest desire to obtain her confidence, I said: "Oh! I thought that you would probably undertake to buy it yourself--the linen, or percale, or Scotch batiste, or what you will; for I don't know anything about it; ladies are better at buying such things than we are. I can bring you a pattern; I will roll it up and put it in my pocket, and you won't need to put yourself out. In view of your condition, madame, you should avoid fatigue as much as possible." "But, monsieur, if I go out to buy linen, it won't be any extra trouble to call on the lady; and I can thank her at the same time for thinking about me." "Oh! that is natural enough! She knew that you could--that you had more claim than most women to her interest. She said to me: 'Mademoiselle Mignonne--that is to say, Madame Landernoy--deserves your full confidence, and I commend her to you.'" The moment that I mentioned the name of Mignonne, she sprang to her feet from the chair she had taken; her brow clouded, she fixed her eyes on the floor, trembling convulsively, and murmured: "Who told you, monsieur, that my name was Mignonne? None of the people I have worked for have known me by any other name than that of Madame Landernoy."