ot of the family."

Perrine assumed her most innocent air.

"Yes, but that does not prevent me from being attached to M. Vulfran,"
she said, "believe me, I am."

"Of course," answered Mme. Bretoneux, "and you can prove your devotion
by giving him the care which I am telling you to give him. My brother
must not only be protected from catching cold, but he must be guarded
against sudden emotions which might, in his state of health, kill him.
He is trying to find our dear Edmond, his only son. He is making
inquiries in India...."

She paused, but Perrine made no reply.

"I am told," she went on, "that my brother gets you to translate the
letters and cables that he receives from India. Well, it is most
important that if there be bad news that my son should be informed
first. Then he will send me a telegram, and as it is not far from here
to Boulogne I will come at once to comfort my poor brother. The sympathy
of a sister is deeper than that of a sister-in-law, you understand."

"Certainly, Madame, I understand; at least I think so," said Perrine.

"Then we can count on you?"

Perrine hesitated for a moment, but as she was forced to give a reply
she said:

"I shall do all that I can for M. Vulfran."

"Yes, and what you do for him will be for us," continued Mme. Bretoneux,
"the same as what you do for us will be for him. And I am going to show
you that I am not ungrateful. What would you say if I gave you a very
nice dress?"

Perrine did not want to say anything, but as she had to make some reply
to the question she put it into a smile.

"A very beautiful dress to wear in the evening," said Mme. Bretoneux.

"But I am in mourning," answered Perrine.

"But being in black does not prevent you from wearing a lovely dress.
You are not dressed well enough to dine at my brother's table. You are
very badly dressed--dressed up like a clever little dog."

Perrine replied that she knew she was not well dressed but she was
somewhat humiliated to be compared with a clever little dog, and the
way the comparison was made was an evident intention to lower her.

"I took what I could find at Mme. Lachaise's shop," she said in
self-defense.

"It was all right for Mme. Lachaise to dress you when you were a little
factory girl, but now, that it pleases my brother to have you sit at the
table with him, we do not wish to blush for you. You must not mind us
making fun of you, but you have no idea how you amused us in that
dread