ide between us,
and we have nothing further to do than to take our leave." And they went
out after mutual ceremonious bows.

Oh! if she could only have gone away with them, how gladly she would have
done it; she would have run away and given up everything. But it was too
late, for the gentleman came back, and said, bowing:

"What can I do for you, madame?"

She could scarcely speak, but at last she managed to say:

"I have come-for this."

The manager looked at the object which she held out to him in mute
astonishment.

With trembling fingers she tried to undo the elastic, and succeeding,
after several attempts, she hastily opened the damaged remains of the
umbrella.

"It looks to me to be in a very bad state of health," he said
compassionately.

"It cost me twenty francs," she said, with some hesitation.

He seemed astonished. "Really! As much as that?"

"Yes, it was a capital article, and I wanted you to see the condition it
is in."

"Yes, yes, I see; very well. But I really do not understand what it can
have to do with me."

She began to feel uncomfortable; perhaps this company did not pay for
such small articles, and she said:

"But--it is burned."

He could not deny it.

"I see that very well," he replied.

She remained open-mouthed, not knowing what to say next; then, suddenly
recollecting that she had left out the main thing, she said hastily:

"I am Mme. Oreille; we are assured in La Maternelle, and I have come to
claim the value of this damage."

"I only want you to have it re-covered," she added quickly, fearing a
positive refusal.

The manager was rather embarrassed, and said: "But, really, madame, we do
not sell umbrellas; we cannot undertake such kinds of repairs."

The little woman felt her courage reviving; she was not going to give up
without a struggle; she was not even afraid any more, and said:

"I only want you to pay me the cost of repairing it; I can quite well get
it done myself."

The gentleman seemed rather confused.

"Really, madame, it is such a very small matter! We are never asked to
give compensation for such trivial losses. You must allow that we cannot
make good pocket-handkerchiefs, gloves, brooms, slippers, all the small
articles which are every day exposed to the chances of being burned."

She got red in the face, and felt inclined to fly into a rage.

"But, monsieur, last December one of our chimneys caught fire, and caused
at least five hundred franc