uliar color of her
hair--for, between ourselves, if she had been a tradesman's daughter,
instead of a young lady of high birth, they would have called it red."

"There again! more slander."

"What! against Mademoiselle Adrienne? Heaven forbid--I always thought
that she would be as good as pretty, and it is not speaking ill of her
to say she has red hair. On the contrary, it always appears to me so
fine, so bright, so sunny, and to suit so well her snowy complexion and
black eyes, that in truth I would not have had it other than it was;
and I am sure, that now this very color of her hair, which would be
a blemish in any one else, must only add to the charm of Mademoiselle
Adrienne's face. She must have such a sweet vixen look!"

"Oh! to be candid, she really was a vixen--always running about the
park, aggravating her governess, climbing the trees--in fact, playing
all manner of naughty tricks."

"I grant you, Mademoiselle Adrienne was a chip of the old block; but
then what wit, what engaging ways, and above all, what a good heart!"

"Yes--that she certainly had. Once I remember she gave her shawl and
her new merino frock to a poor little beggar girl, and came back to the
house in her petticoat, and bare arms."

"Oh, an excellent heart--but headstrong--terribly headstrong!"

"Yes--that she was; and 'tis likely to finish badly, for it seems that
she does things at Paris--oh! such things--"

"What things?"

"Oh, my dear; I can hardly venture--"

"Fell, but what are they?"

"Why," said the worthy dame, with a sort of embarrassment and confusion,
which showed how much she was shocked by such enormities, "they say,
that Mademoiselle Adrienne never sets foot in a church, but lives in a
kind of heathen temple in her aunt's garden, where she has masked women
to dress her up like a goddess, and scratches them very often, because
she gets tipsy--without mentioning, that every night she plays on a
hunting horn of massive gold--all which causes the utmost grief and
despair to her poor aunt the princess."

Here the bailiff burst into a fit of laughter, which interrupted his
wife.

"Now tell me," said he, when this first access of hilarity was over,
"where did you get these fine stories about Mademoiselle Adrienne?"

"From Rene's wife, who went to Paris to look for a child to nurse; she
called at Saint-Dizier House, to see Madame Grivois, her godmother.--Now
Madame Grivois is first bedchamber woman to the princess--and