"Perhaps so, a little; I got wet through; I have just come from Nogent, and I was out in part of the storm." "You must go to bed at once when you get home, and try to keep very warm." Violette took the young messenger's arm. They crossed the bridge at Rue d'Angouleme, and soon reached Rue de Crussol. The girl stopped in front of the house where Chicotin had found rooms for Roncherolle. "This is the place," said Violette. "Ah! what a coincidence! this is my customer's house. Which floor do you live on?" "Oh! way up at the top, under the eaves; I believe it's the sixth floor; but the room is very pleasant, I assure you." "That must be right over my gouty man. Is Mere Lamort your concierge?" "Yes, a very good-hearted woman who always wants to get my breakfast." "Well, mamzelle, take my advice and tell her to bring you up a mulled egg to-night; that will prevent you from being sick. Good-night, mamzelle; when I go to see my old gentleman, I'll ask the concierge about you. You don't bear me any grudge, mamzelle, do you?" "Oh! no indeed, Chicotin; on the contrary, you prevented me from committing a crime, and you have brought hope back to my heart." "Good-night then, mamzelle; I'll go back to look after the coal." XXXV THE VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE Let us turn back a little and pay a visit to Madame de Grangeville, whom we left at the moment when she found herself alone with her husband, in the little wood belonging to Monsieur Glumeau. That meeting excited the lady intensely, not with that emotion which makes the heart beat fast by recalling pleasant memories, for the baroness had always been too much of a flirt to be sentimental; but the sight of her husband had caused her anxiety, almost terror; then, turning back for a moment to the past and comparing it with her present situation, she had been unable to keep from regretting the position which she occupied when she was Comtesse de Brevanne, and the fortune which permitted her to gratify all her whims. The five hundred francs which Monsieur de Merval had handed her, on the pretence that he owed them to her, had not lasted long in the hands of a woman who had always been a consumer of money. When Madame de Grangeville saw at a milliner's a hat or a bonnet to her liking, she must have it, no matter at what price. As for the interior of her establishment, we have seen that she turned over the management of it to her maid Lizida; the result was that the creditors were numerous. On the morning after the little party given by the Glumeaus, at which the baroness was present, she rang for Lizida the instant she woke. "Did madame enjoy herself yesterday at Nogent?" asked the maid. "Madame returned at daybreak, I believe. Was there a carriage there to bring madame back to Paris?"