precisely the man she would have wanted to marry.

She went to a drawer and took out an old handkerchief. She was not a
girl of that sort--deep down she felt inarticulately the old primitive
consciousness of inferiority and superiority, at once jealous and
contemptuous; marrying him and living always on his plane were alike
impossible to her, but she could give him the explosive. There was not
one girl among all those others who could have got it and given it to
him!

She tore a piece from the handkerchief, and fastened it over the
stopper of the bottle; then she got out a hat trimmed with bows of
wide ribbon, and sewed the bottle into the centre bow. It presented
rather a bulgy appearance, but by a little pulling of the other
trimming it was hardly noticeable, and really nothing is too peculiar
to be worn on the head. After that she went to bed.

* * * * *

There was trouble in Herr Van de Greutz's kitchen the next day; the
young cook, who had behaved so admirably before, did what old Marthe
called "showing the cloven hoof." She was impertinent, she was idle;
she broke dishes, she wasted eggs, and she lighted a roaring fire in
the big stove, in spite of the strict economy of fuel which was one of
the first rules of the household. Finally she announced that she must
have a day's holiday. Marthe refused point blank, whereupon the cook
said she should take it, and a dispute ensued; Marthe called her
several names, and reminded her of the fact that she had no character,
and that she had confessed to being obliged to leave the Van Heigens
in haste. Julia retorted that that fact was known to the housekeeper
when she engaged her, and was the reason of the starvation wage
offered. Marthe then inquired what enormity it was that she had
committed at the Van Heigens', and intimated that it must be
disgraceful indeed for a person, pretending to be a lady-help, to be
thankful to accept the situation of cook. Julia's answer was scarcely
polite, and very well calculated to rouse the old woman further, and,
at the same time, she opened the door and skilfully worked herself and
her antagonist into the passage, and some way up it, raising her voice
so as to incite the other to raise hers. The result was that soon the
noise reached Herr Van de Greutz.

Out he came in a great rage, ordering them about their business, and
abusing them roundly. Marthe hurried back to the kitchen, effectually
silenced, bu