At these words the woman raised her head. I signified that I was penniless. My aunt frowned impatiently. "M. Coquelin, have you?" Coquelin drew forth a single small piece, all that he possessed; for it was the end of his month. Mlle. de Bergerac took it, and pursued her inquiry. "Curé, have you any money?" "Not a sou," said the curé, smiling sweetly. "Bah!" said Mlle. de Bergerac, with a sort of tragic petulance. "What can I do with twelve sous?" "Give it all the same," said the woman, doggedly, putting out her hand. "They want money," said Mlle de Bergerac, lowering her voice to Coquelin. "They have had this great sorrow, but a _louis d'or_ would dull the wound. But we're all penniless. O for the sight of a little gold!" "I have a _louis_ at home," said I; and I felt Coquelin lay his hand on my head. "What was the matter with the husband?" he asked. "_Mon Dieu!_" said my aunt, glancing round at the bed. "I don't know." Coquelin looked at her, half amazed, half worshipping. "Who are they, these people? What are they?" she asked. "Mademoiselle," said Coquelin, fervently, "you're an angel!" "I wish I were," said Mlle. de Bergerac, simply; and she turned to the old mother. We walked home together,--the curé with Mlle. de Chalais and me, and Mlle. de Bergerac in front with Coquelin. Asking how the two young girls had found their way to the deathbed we had just left, I learned from Mlle. de Chalais that they had set out for a stroll together, and, striking into a footpath across the fields, had gone farther than they supposed, and lost their way. While they were trying to recover it, they came upon the wretched hut where we had found them, and were struck by the sight of two children, standing crying at the door. Mlle. de Bergerac had stopped and questioned them to ascertain the cause of their sorrow, which with some difficulty she found to be that their father was dying of a fever. Whereupon, in spite of her companion's lively opposition, she had entered the miserable abode, and taken her place at the wretched couch, in the position in which we had discovered her. All this, doubtless, implied no extraordinary merit on Mlle. de Bergerac's part; but it placed her in a gracious, pleasing light.