as grey with dust, the original Empire green
silk, a rusty grey and hanging in shreds on the back of the original
glass. There was a marble top set into the wood and grooved in a
curious way. The whole was intact except for a loose back leg, which
gave it a swaying, tottering appearance. We passed it in
silence--being experienced traders! Then, after buying several little
old picture frames, while Madame continued her knitting, we wandered
close to the coveted table and asked what was wanted for that broken
bit "of no use as it stands."

"Thirty francs" (six dollars) was the answer.

Later a well-known New York dealer offered seventy-five dollars for
the table in the condition in which we found it, and repaired as it is
to-day it would easily bring a hundred and fifty, anywhere!

As it happened, the money we went out with had been spent on
unexpected finds, and neither we nor our good-natured cabby were in
possession of thirty francs! In fact, cabby was rather staggered to
hear the price, having offered to advance what we needed. He suggested
sending it home "collect" but Madame would not even consider such an
idea. However, at last our resourceful jehu came to the rescue. If the
ladies would seat themselves in the cab, he could place the table in
front of them, with the cover of the cab raised, and Madame of the
shop could lock her door and mounting the box by the side of our
_cocher_, she might drive with us to our destination and collect the
money herself! He promised to bring her home safely again!

As we had only the next day for boxing and shipping, there was no
alternative. Before we had even taken in our grotesque appearance, the
horse was galloping, as only a Paris cab horse can gallop, toward our
abode in Avenue Henri Martin, past carriages and autos returning from
the _Bois_, while inside the cab we sat, elated by our success and in
that whirl of triumphant absorbing joy which only the real collector
knows.

This same modest little Empire collection had a treasure recently
added to it, found by chance, in an antique shop in Pennsylvania. It
was a mirror. The dealer, an Italian, said that he had got it from an
old house in Bordentown, New Jersey.

"It's genuine English," he said, certain he was playing his winning
card.

It has the original glass and a heavy, squarely made, mahogany frame.
Strange to say it corresponds exactly with the bed and bureau in the
collection, having pilasters surmounted by w