ificent gold snuff-box enriched with diamonds with which the old man
carelessly toyed as he sat by his daughter's bedside was like the stroke
of genius which in the work of a great man elicits a cry of admiration.
Godefroid looked at that snuff-box, wondering it had not been sold or
found its way to the mont-de-piete.

"This evening, Monsieur Godefroid, my daughter received the announcement
of your visit with such excitement that all the curious symptoms of her
malady which have troubled us very much for the last twelve days have
entirely disappeared. You can fancy how grateful I am to you."

"And I, too," said the invalid in her caressing tones, drooping her head
with a motion full of coquetry. "Monsieur is to me a deputy from the
world. Since I was twenty years old, monsieur, I have not seen a salon,
or a party, or a ball. And I must tell you that I love dancing, and
adore the theatre, especially the opera. I imagine everything by
thought! I read a great deal; and then my father, who goes into society,
tells me about social events."

Godefroid made an involuntary movement as if to kneel at the old man's
feet.

"Yes, when he goes to the opera, and he often goes, he describes to me
the singing and tells me about the dresses of the ladies. Oh! I would I
were cured for the sake of my father, who lives solely for me as I live
by him and for him, and then for my son, to whom I would fain be a real
mother. Ah! monsieur, what blessed beings my old father and my good
son are! I should also like to recover so as to hear Lablache, Rubini,
Tamburini, Grisi, and 'I Puritani.' But--"

"Come, come, my child, be calm! If we talk music we are lost!" said the
old man, smiling.

That smile, which rejuvenated his face, was evidently a perpetual
deception to the sick woman.

"Yes, yes, I'll be good," said Vanda, with a petulant little air; "but
when will you give me an accordion?"

The portable instrument then called by that name had just been invented.
It could, if desired, be placed at the edge of a bedstead, and only
needed the pressure of a foot to give out the sounds of an organ. This
instrument, in its highest development, was equal to a piano; but the
cost of it was three hundred francs. Vanda, who read the newspapers and
reviews, knew of the existence of the instrument, and had wished for one
for the last two months.

"Yes, madame, you shall have one," said Godefroid, after exchanging
a look with the old man. "A friend