ork, she brought
me a job in a great hurry. I could not refuse her; but this time, I
must own, I got well paid for being obliging, for after I had done,
she said in her most good-natured way: "Here, you shall take home with
you some of this nice pie, and this bottle of good wine, and have a
comfortable supper with your sister." So she always calls you,
madame,' added Margaret, while complacently glancing at the basket,
the contents of which she now laid out upon the table. 'As I believe
it is safest for you, I do not undeceive her, though it is easily
known she cannot have looked very close at us, or she might have seen
that I could only be the servant of so noble-looking a lady'----

The feeble voice interrupted her: 'My servant!--you my servant! when,
instead of rewarding your services, I allow you to toil for my
support, and to lavish upon me the most tender, the most devoted
affection! My poor Margaret! you who have undertaken for me at your
age, and with your infirmities, daily and arduous toil, are you not
indeed a sister of whom I may well be proud? Your nobility has a
higher origin than mine. Reduced by political changes, which have left
me homeless and penniless, I owe everything to you; and so tenderly do
you minister to me, that even in this garret I could still almost
fancy myself the noble Abbess of Vatteville!'

As she spoke, the aged lady raised herself in her old arm-chair, and
throwing back a black veil, disclosed features still beautiful, and a
forehead still free from every wrinkle, and eyes now sparkling with
something of their former brilliancy. She extended her hand to
Margaret, who affectionately kissed it; and then, apprehensive that
further excitement could not but be injurious to her mistress, the
faithful creature endeavoured to divert her thoughts into another
channel, by inviting her to partake of the little feast provided by
the kindness of her employer. Margaret being in the habit of taking
her meals in the house where she worked, the noble Lady Marie Anne
Adelaide de Vatteville was thus usually left alone and unattended, to
eat the scanty fare prescribed by the extreme narrowness of her
resources; so that she now felt quite cheered by the novel comfort,
not merely of the better-spread table, but of the company of her
faithful servant; and it was in an almost mirthful tone she said, when
the repast was ended: 'Margaret, I have a secret to confide to you. I
will not--I ought not to keep i