“Black and blue!” she repeated. “And laughing and dancing and all sorts of fast fun going on in the drawing-rooms.” She put out her hand and touched Mademoiselle’s arm quite fiercely. “The little thing didn’t know she _had_ a mother! She didn’t know what the word meant. I found that out by her innocent talk. She used to call _her_ ‘The Lady Downstairs’.” “_Mon Dieu!_” cried the Frenchwoman again. “What a woman!” “She first heard of mothers from a little boy she met in the Square Gardens. He was the first child she had been allowed to play with. He was a nice child and he had a good mother. I only got it bit by bit when she didn’t know how much she was telling me. He told her about mothers and he kissed her—for the first time in her life. She didn’t understand but it warmed her little heart. She’s never forgotten.” Mademoiselle even started slightly in her chair. Being a clever Frenchwoman she felt drama and all its subtle accompaniments. “Is that why——” she began. “It is,” answered Dowson, stoutly. “A kiss isn’t an ordinary thing to her. It means something wonderful. She’s got into the way of loving me, bless her, and every now and then, it’s my opinion, she suddenly remembers her lonely days when she didn’t know what love was. And it just wells up in her little heart and she wants to kiss me. She always says it that way, ‘Dowie, I want to _kiss_ you,’ as if it was something strange and, so to say, _sacred_. She doesn’t know it means almost nothing to most people. That’s why I always lay down my work and hug her close.” “You have a good heart—a _good_ one!” said Mademoiselle with strong feeling. Then she put a question: “Who was the little boy?” “He was a relation of—his lordship’s.” “His lordship’s?” cautiously. “The Marquis. Lord Coombe.” There was a few minutes’ silence. Both women were thinking of a number of things and each was asking herself how much it would be wise to say. It was Dowson who made her decision first, and this time, as before, she laid down her work. What she had to convey was the thing which, above all others, the Frenchwoman must understand if she was to be able to use her power to its best effect.