e sure! Dear me, I've been so ill,
madame! Yes; I've had the cholera; it's very disagreeable. Oh! it
doesn't show; no, no, it makes you look younger, on my word of honor.
And your children, madame? Oh! I've had three since last summer!"

So she rattled on, never ceasing her curtseying to the round table,
which doubtless represented the lady she was visiting. Next she
ventured to bring the chairs closer together, and for an hour carried
on a general conversation, her talk abounding in extraordinary
phrases.

"Don't be silly," said her mother at intervals, when the chatter put
her out of patience.

"But, mamma, I'm paying my friend a visit. She's speaking to me, and I
must answer her. At tea nobody ought to put the cakes in their
pockets, ought they?"

Then she turned and began again:

"Good-bye, madame; your tea was delicious. Remember me most kindly to
your husband."

The next moment came something else. She was going out shopping in her
carriage, and got astride of a chair like a boy.

"Jean, not so quick; I'm afraid. Stop! stop! here is the milliner's!
Mademoiselle, how much is this bonnet? Three hundred francs; that
isn't dear. But it isn't pretty. I should like it with a bird on it--a
bird big like that! Come, Jean, drive me to the grocer's. Have you
some honey? Yes, madame, here is some. Oh, how nice it is! But I don't
want any of it; give me two sous' worth of sugar. Oh! Jean, look, take
care! There! we have had a spill! Mr. Policeman, it was the cart which
drove against us. You're not hurt, madame, are you? No, sir, not in
the least. Jean, Jean! home now. Gee-up! gee-up. Wait a minute; I must
order some chemises. Three dozen chemises for madame. I want some
boots too and some stays. Gee-up! gee-up! Good gracious, we shall
never get back again."

Then she fanned herself, enacting the part of the lady who has
returned home and is finding fault with her servants. She never
remained quiet for a moment; she was in a feverish ecstasy, full of
all sorts of whimsical ideas; all the life she knew surged up in her
little brain and escaped from it in fragments. Morning and afternoon
she thus moved about, dancing and chattering; and when she grew tired,
a footstool or parasol discovered in a corner, or some shred of stuff
lying on the floor, would suffice to launch her into a new game in
which her effervescing imagination found fresh outlet. Persons,
places, and incidents were all of her own creation, and she amus