mers? Your customers? You, then, are"--

"Mademoiselle Melanie, the mantua-maker," answered Madeleine with an
unfaltering voice.

"_You?_ Can it be?"

Pointing in the direction of the workroom, she answered with a
half-smile, "Yonder are a number of witnesses who can testify to my
identity."

Lord Linden, trying to conceal the shock he had received, and gazing
upon her with admiration, exclaimed, in an impassioned tone,--

"Ever since I first met you, when you were returning from"--

"From New York," broke in Madeleine, "where I went to choose silks and
velvets and other feminine paraphernalia for the use of my customers."

Lord Linden was again discomfited. After a moment he went on,--

"I have sought you everywhere. I was certain I should find you in the
first drawing-rooms in Washington."

"You find me in a _salon_ which a great many ladies visit before they
enter those drawing-rooms."

"It is incredible!"

"To me it seems very comprehensible," answered Madeleine stoically.

He looked into her lovely countenance and continued, with increasing
fervor,--

"I have never ceased to think of you. No other woman has had power to
efface your image. Having known you, without ever suspecting who and
what you are"--

Madeleine interrupted him.

"Now that you are aware _who_ I am and _what_ I am, my lord, it becomes
easier to dissipate any illusion which owes its origin to a mystery with
which you were pleased to surround me."

"To _exchange_ my illusions, perhaps, for others, more captivating, more
poetic," resumed the nobleman.

"Do you talk of poetry, my lord, to a mantua-maker?"

"Say, rather, to one who, in spite of her vocation, inspires me with the
most absolute veneration. I swear to you--But no, my actions, not my
words, must prove my admiration. You shall find me ever at your command.
I shall count it the greatest happiness of my life to devote myself to
your service."

"My lord, you tempt me to put your words to the test."

"Do so, I pray you. It is what I most desire."

"By a singular chance," said Madeleine, "one of those marvellous
coincidences which sometimes occur in real life, but which look like
fiction when they are related in books, an opportunity presents itself
that may enable you to prove the sincerity of your protestations. You
must understand that I am a woman of business. But that is easily
comprehended, as I am a woman who toils for her daily bread. I take
great interest in