MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT [_holding a letter in her hand_] Oh, Chanteuil, what _have_ you done? Here's somebody perfectly furious. She says she asked you to give her some information in the beauty column. [_Reading_] It was something she was mistaken about. She wrote under the name of "Always Young," and apparently you've answered "Always Young is a mistake." She thinks you did it to insult her. You must write her a letter of apologies. MADAME CHANTEUIL. Yes, Mademoiselle. MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT [_holding up another letter_] "Little Questions of Sentiment." This is for you, Therese. [_She reads_] "I feel so sad because I am getting old," etc. Answer, "Why this sadness--" THERESE. "White hairs are a crown of--" [_She writes a few words in pencil upon the letter which Mademoiselle de Meuriot has passed to her_] MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT. "Astral Influences." [_Looking round_] Who is "Astral Influences"? MADAME CHANTEUIL. I am. MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT [_passing her letters_] Here are two, three--one without a post office order. Put that one straight into the waste paper basket. Remember that you must always promise them luck, with little difficulties to give success more flavor. And be sure to tell them they're full of good qualities, with some little amiable weaknesses and the sort of defects one enjoys boasting about. [_Going on reading_] "About using whites of eggs to take the sharpness out of sorrel," "To take out ink-stains." These are for you, dear. MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Yes. [_She takes the letters_] I didn't think of that when I took my degree. MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT [_continuing_] "Stoutness"; that's for you too. [_Glancing again at the letter_] What does this one want? [_Fluttering the leaves_] Four pages; ah, here we are--"A slender figure--smaller hips--am not too stout anywhere else." That's for the doctor. [_She gives the letter to Mademoiselle Gregoire with several others_] MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Iodiform soap. MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT. My dear, not at all, "Soap of the Sylphs." MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. But that's exactly the same thing. MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT. I know that. But it sounds so different. [_Taking another letter_] "A red nose"-- MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. Lemon juice. MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT [_continuing_] "Superfluous hairs." Be sure to recommend the cream that gives us advertisements; don't make any mistake about that. "Black specks on the chin," "Wrinkles round the eyes." MADEMOISELLE GREGOIRE. There's no cure for that. MADAME CHANTEUIL. Tell her to go to bed early and alone. MADEMOISELLE DE MEURIOT. That's too easy, she wouldn't believe in it. Find something else. [_Continuing to read_] "To make them firm without enlarging them"; that's for you too. And all the rest I think. "To whiten the teeth," "To make the hair lighter," "To give firmness to the bust." MADAME CHANTEUIL. They're always asking that.