wed in her
footsteps, while she gazed at the furniture, examined the walls,
looked upwards, and started back, chattering all the time.

"I don't like your cretonne; it is so frightfully common!" said she.
"Where did you buy that abominable pink stuff? There's a chair that
would be nice if the wood weren't covered with gilding. Not a picture,
not a nick-nack--only your chandelier and your candelabra, which are
by no means in good style! Ah well, my dear fellow; I advise you to
continue laughing at my Japanese pavilion!"

She burst into a laugh, thus revenging herself on him for the old
affronts which still rankled in her breast.

"Your taste is a pretty one, and no mistake! You don't know that my
idol is worth more than the whole lot of your things! A draper's
shopman wouldn't have selected that pink stuff. Was it your idea to
fascinate your washerwoman?"

Malignon felt very much hurt, and did not answer. He made an attempt
to lead her into the inner room; but she remained on the threshold,
declaring that she never entered such gloomy places. Besides, she
could see quite enough; the one room was worthy of the other. The
whole of it had come from the Saint-Antoine quarter.

But the hanging lamp was her special aversion. She attacked it with
merciless raillery--what a trashy thing it was, such as some little
work-girl with no furniture of her own might have dreamt of! Why,
lamps in the same style could be bought at all the bazaars at seven
francs fifty centimes apiece.

"I paid ninety francs for it," at last ejaculated Malignon in his
impatience.

Thereupon she seemed delighted at having angered him.

On his self-possession returning, he inquired: "Won't you take off
your cloak?"

"Oh, yes, I will," she answered; "it is dreadfully warm here."

She took off her bonnet as well, and this with her fur cloak he
hastened to deposit in the next room. When he returned, he found her
seated in front of the fire, still gazing round her. She had regained
her gravity, and was disposed to display a more conciliatory demeanor.

"It's all very ugly," she said; "still, you are not amiss here. The
two rooms might have been made very pretty."

"Oh! they're good enough for my purpose!" he thoughtlessly replied,
with a careless shrug of the shoulders.

The next moment, however, he bitterly regretted these silly words. He
could not possibly have been more impertinent or clumsy. Juliette hung
her head, and a sharp pang darted th