three, the shadow of the Cathedral was
already very long, and a delicate half-light entered by the window,
which was wide open. It was almost like the twilight hour, which
commenced early in the afternoon for this little house, so fresh and
green from all the verdure that was about it, as it stood by the side of
the colossal church. A slight sound of steps was heard on the pavement
outside; it was a school of young girls being taken to Confession.

In the workroom, the tools, the time-stained walls, everything
which remained there immovable, seemed to sleep in the repose of the
centuries, and from every corner came freshness and rest. A great
square of white light, smooth and pure, fell upon the frame over which
Hubertine and Angelique were bending, with their delicate profiles in
the fawn-coloured reflection of the gold.

"Mademoiselle," began Felicien, feeling very awkward, as he realised
that he must give some reason for his visit--"I wish to say,
Mademoiselle, that for the hair it seems to me it would be better to
employ gold rather than silk."

She raised her head, and the laughing expression of her eyes clearly
signified that he need not have taken the trouble of coming if he had no
other recommendation to make. And she looked down again as she replied,
in a half-mocking tone:

"There is no doubt about that, Monsieur."

He was indeed ridiculous, for he remarked then for the first time that
it was exactly what she was doing. Before her was the design he had
made, but tinted with water-colours, touched up with gold, with all the
delicacy of an old miniature, a little softened, like what one sees in
some prayer books of the fifteenth century. And she copied this image
with the patience and the skill of an artist working with a magnifying
glass. After having reproduced it with rather heavy strokes upon the
white silk, tightly stretched and lined with heavy linen, she covered
this silk with threads of gold carried from the bottom to the top,
fastened simply at the two ends, so that they were left free and close
to each other. When using the same threads as a woof, she separated them
with the point of her needle to find the design below. She followed this
same drawing, recovered the gold threads with stitches of silk across,
which she assorted according to the colours of the model. In the shaded
parts the silk completely hid the gold; in the half-lights the stitches
of silk were farther and farther apart, while th