"It was in the road, madame, just against the kerb, in the rue de Berri." "Ah, yes. I am glad you saw it. It was a piece of luck for you, too, hein?" She rose and opened her desk. "Yes, indeed, madame," said the girl, clasping her hands. "What are you--I mean, what do you do for a living?" "I work at madame Wilhelmine's, madame." "The milliner's? Why don't you go as mannequin somewhere?--you are--er--pretty." "They tell me my figure is not good enough, madame." "That's true. Your figure is bad," said the lady, more amiably. "Well, you could sit to artists for the face. You could earn more money that way than Wilhelmine pays you, I should think." "I know only one honest way to make as much money as I want, madame," said the girl, in a low voice. "I want a good deal." "Tiens! The State lotteries, of course." "No, madame; a likelier way than that." "Oh! And what do you call a good deal?" "Madame understands that I am very poor. A trifle to madame would be a good deal to _me._ Say, a hundred thousand francs." "A hundred thousand francs! Such a sum is not a trifle to anybody. You know a way to make it?" "Thanks to this reward, I have a chance to make it," assented the girl, folding the bank notes that had been given to her. "And _not_ the lotteries?" "No, madame; a journey for which I lacked the fare. But I bore madame?" "No, no; go on." "Eh bien, I am sick of poverty; I would far rather part with my face and gain wealth than remain beautiful and a beggar." "You would far rather----What do you say?" "I am going to the Face Exchange, madame," said the girl resolutely. The old woman looked at her stupefied. "The what?" she asked in a whisper. "Madame has not heard of it? It is held once a year. Of course one may fail; one may not be able to strike a bargain--and even if one does, the miracle may not occur. But something tells me I shall be fortunate." Madame de Val Fleury shrank back on the couch, frightened--she could not doubt that the girl was insane. After a moment, nerving herself to approach the bell, she stammered, "Yes, yes, I remember now. I daresay it is the best thing you can do. Good afternoon to you. I wish you every success." And as she sniffed at the smelling salts brought by her maid, she murmured, trembling, "Mad. How terrible! Quite, quite mad." The incident did not fade from her mind. She thought of it in the night, and on the morrow, and when she took the sapphire and the snapped chain to her jeweller's. If the nonsense the poor creature talked had only been true! What ecstasy! And her tone had been perfectly sane. ... Oh, of course she was demented. Still--still, miracles did happen. Look at Lourdes! Every day madame de Val Fleury recalled the matter with a curiosity more intense, and regretted the alarm that had prevented her obtaining details. Before a week had gone by, the curiosity drove her to make a purchase at the milliner's the girl had mentioned.