“Well--no; I'm going to the silk department; you've nothing to suit me.” The shopman took the articles and walked before the ladies. In the silk department there was also a crowd, the principal crush being opposite the inside display, arranged by Hutin, and to which Mouret had given the finishing touches. It was at the further end of the hall, around one of the small wrought-iron columns which supported the glass roof, a veritable torrent of stuffs, a puffy sheet falling from, above and spreading out? down to the floor. At first stood out the light satins and tender silks, the satins _à la Reine_ and Renaissance, with the pearly tones of spring water; light silks, transparent as crystals--Nile-green, Indian-azure, May-rose, and Danube-blue. Then came the stronger fabrics: marvellous satins, duchess silks, warm tints, rolling in great waves; and right at the bottom, as in a fountain-basin, reposed the heavy stuffs, the figured silks, the damasks, brocades, and lovely silvered silks in the midst of a deep bed of velvet of every sort--black, white, and coloured--skilfully disposed on silk and satin grounds, hollowing out with their medley of colours a still lake in which the reflex of the sky seemed to be dancing. The women, pale with desire, bent over as if to look at themselves. And before this falling cataract they all remained standing, with the secret fear of being carried away by the irruption of such luxury, and with the irresistible desire to jump in amidst it and be lost. “Here you are, then!” said Madame Desforges, on finding Madame Bourdelais installed before a counter. “Ah! good-morning!” replied the latter, shaking hands with the ladies. “Yes, I've come to have a look.” “What a prodigious exhibition! It's like a dream. And the oriental saloon! Have you seen the oriental saloon?” “Yes, yes; extraordinary!” But beneath this enthusiasm, which was to be decidedly the fashionable note of the day, Madame Bourdelais retained her practical housekeeper's coolness. She was carefully examining a piece of Paris Paradise, for she had come on purpose to take advantage of the exceptional cheapness of this silk, if she found it really advantageous. She was doubtless satisfied with it, for she took twenty-five yards, hoping it would be sufficient to make a dress for herself and a cloak for her little girl. “What! you are going already?” resumed Madame Desforges. “Take a walk round with us.” “No, thanks; they are waiting for me at home. I didn't like to risk bringing the children into this crowd.”