"Don't you believe it!" said the gentleman, "am a widower and know the ropes--I might part with five francs and remain servantless for a month. Produce a servant. Trot one of your treasures out. Let me get a grip of it and take it away with me, and I will pay you ten--fifteen francs." "But it happens that there is no servant on the premises this afternoon. Monsieur is not reasonable. He should comprehend that I cannot show him what I have not got." "It is equally comprehensible, madame, that I cannot pay for what I do not see." "Next, please," said the fat woman, shrugging her shoulders. "Madame," began Suzanne, vehemently, "I must ask you to find another femme-de-ménage for me immediately, if you please--your Angélique that I settled with here has never turned up!" "There you are!" cried Pariset. "Everybody says the same thing." "Mais, monsieur!" snorted the proprietress. "Your affair is finished--the business of mademoiselle does not concern you." "Pardon, madame, my affair is not finished; on the contrary, my need is dire. I have offspring who clamour for female ministrations, voyons. Mademoiselle will accept my apologies?" "They are superfluous, monsieur," said Suzanne, acknowledging his bow. "But, madame, my case is urgent! I go into my new appartement in the morning, and there is nobody there yet to shake a mat or light a fire." "And what a job it is to light a fire!" put in Pariset, with fellow feeling. "The life they lead us, these bonnes!" responded Suzanne. "Above all, mademoiselle, when one has two little children and is without experience. Figure yourself my confusion!" "Dreadful, monsieur! I can imagine it." "What do you expect me to say to you, you two?" shouted the fat woman, banging the table. "I tell you that there is no bonne waiting just now. Am I le bon Dieu to create model domestics out of the dust on the office floor?" And at this instant the door opened, and there entered briskly a comely wench, wearing an apron, and no hat. "Ah!" gasped Pariset and Suzanne together. "Ah!" exclaimed the fat woman, jubilant. "Everything arranges itself! Now I know this one. I recommend her. You can take a place to-day, Marceline? Good! It is forty francs a month, as usual, and you sleep in, hein?" "Fifty. And I sleep out--with my aunt," said Marceline, promptly, seizing the circumstances. "I agree," announced the eager clients, in a duet. "Mais, monsieur----" remonstrated Suzanne, dismayed. "Mais, mademoiselle----" expostulated Pariset. "Enfin, take her! I yield her to you. My children pine for her care, but we will suffer!" "I am averse from appearing selfish, monsieur----" "Ah, chivalry forbids that I wrench this unique boon from your arms, mademoiselle." "No! She is for monsieur," said Suzanne, in a burst of magnanimity. The proprietress picked up her pen. "Monsieur resides----?" "No matter. I renounce my claim in favour of mademoiselle."