vite her when I have the satisfaction of knowing that
she is dying of mortification because she cannot get an
invitation?--when I have steeled myself against the solicitations of
Madame Orlowski? Never! I would rather bear the weight of all the years
which she impertinently added to my age."

Madeleine, who was fully prepared for this burst, said, very quietly,
and approaching the marchioness,--

"Madame, it is not long since you assured me that it would be a positive
happiness to be able to render me a service."

"And I mean it. I would gladly serve you, but not by inviting Mrs.
Gilmer to my ball: that is a little too much to demand."

"But this is the service I most need; a service for which I would be
deeply grateful,--for which I could never sufficiently thank you,--which
would attach me to you as nothing in the past has ever done."

"The offer of your gratitude and the promise of your attachment are,
certainly, very touching," said Madame de Fleury, with a scornful
petulance which she had never before evinced toward Madeleine; "but I
beg leave to decline the indebtedness. You have forced me to remember,
for the first time, that when a lady in my station deals with a person
in your sphere, it is possible to be _too_ kind, _too_ condescending,
_too_ ready to forget necessary distinctions, and thus to draw upon
one's self the consequences of that forgetfulness. You have given me a
lesson, mademoiselle, by which I shall profit: in future I shall
remember the distance between us."

She walked toward the work-room and called Victorine, who immediately
responded to the summons.

Pointing to the _carton_, the indignant lady gave the order, "Have that
dress placed in my carriage."

"No!" said Madeleine, addressing Victorine, commandingly. "Let the dress
remain where it is."

"What do you mean, mademoiselle?" asked the marchioness, in angry
astonishment.

"That dress is still mine!" answered Madeleine.

"Yours?"

"It is mine, and we will each keep that which belongs to us,--_you_ the
privilege of your rank; I, the results of my labor, however humble."

"Do I understand you rightly? Have you the hardihood to say"--

Madeleine interrupted her,--

"That I refuse to part with that dress for gold, or for any compensation
you can offer, except the one already named,--an invitation for Mrs.
Gilmer to your ball."

"She shall never have one! I have said it, and nothing can change my
resolution."

"Nor mine! We