mble, which was quite new, and which, being pretty,
was cheap at five, as sold in the shops. She ventured, therefore, to
express as much to the woman in question.

"Three francs, Mademoiselle!" exclaimed the other--"Jamais, since the
three days! All our commerce was then destroyed, and no one would think
of giving such a price. If I get three for it myself I shall be too
happy. Cependant, as the thimble is pretty, and the metal looks good,
we will say five and thirty sous, and have no more words about it."

{Jamais = never; three days = the three days of the July Revolution;
Cependant = nevertheless}

Adrienne sighed, and then she received the money and returned home. Two
hours later the woman of the shop met with an idle customer who had
more money than discretion, and she sold this very thimble for six
francs, under the plea that it was a new fashion that had sprung out of
the Revolution of July. That illustrious event, however, produced other
results that were quite as hard to be reduced to the known connection
between cause and effect as this.

Adrienne found that by using the wine which still remained, as well as
some sugar and arrowroot, her grandmother could be made comfortable for
just ten sous a day. She had been able to save of her own wages three,
and here, then, were the means of maintaining Madame de la Rocheaimard,
including the franc on hand, for just a week longer. To do this,
however, some little extra economy would be necessary. Adrienne had
conscientiously taken the time used to sell the thimble from her
morning's work on me. As she sat down, on her return, she went over
these calculations in her mind, and when they were ended, she cast a
look at her work, as if to calculate its duration by what she had so
far finished. Her eye assured her that not more than one fourth of her
labor was, as yet, completed. Could she get over the next six weeks,
however, she would be comparatively rich, and, as her lease would be
out in two months, she determined to get cheaper lodgings in the
country, remove her grandmother, purchase another handkerchief--if
possible one of my family--and while she lived on the fruits of her
present labors, to earn the means for a still more remote day. It is
true, she had no more lace with which to decorate another handkerchief,
but the sale of this would supply the money to purchase anew, and in
this way the simple minded girl saw no reason why she might not
continue on as long a