nce, while Edouard and his mother looked at each other and
smiled. The silence was broken by Madame de Lamotte.

"Dear Pierre," she said, "you are surprised to see us accompanied by a
stranger, but when you hear what he has done for us you will thank me
for having induced him to return here with us."

"Allow me," interrupted Derues, "allow me to tell you what happened. The
gratitude which madame imagines she owes me causes her to exaggerate a
small service which anybody would have been delighted to render."

"No, monsieur; let me tell it."

"Let mamma tell the story," said Edouard.

"What is it, then? What happened?" said Monsieur de Lamotte.

"I am quite ashamed," answered Derues; "but I obey your wishes, madame."

"Yes," replied Madame de Lamotte, "keep your seat, I wish it. Imagine,
Pierre, just six days ago, an accident happened to Edouard and me which
might have had serious consequences."

"And you never wrote to me, Marie?"

"I should only have made you anxious, and to no purpose. I had some
business in one of the most crowded parts of Paris; I took a chair,
and Edouard walked beside me. In the rue Beaubourg we were suddenly
surrounded by a mob of low people, who were quarrelling. Carriages
stopped the way, and the horses of one of these took fright in the
confusion and uproar, and bolted, in spite of the coachman's endeavours
to keep them in hand. It was a horrible tumult, and I tried to get out
of the chair, but at that moment the chairmen were both knocked down,
and I fell. It is a miracle I was not crushed. I was dragged insensible
from under the horses' feet and carried into the house before which
all this took place. There, sheltered in a shop and safe from the crowd
which encumbered the doorway, I recovered my senses, thanks to the
assistance of Monsieur Derues, who lives there. But that is not all:
when I recovered I could not walk, I had been so shaken by the fright,
the fall, and the danger I had incurred, and I had to accept his
offer of finding me another chair when the crowd should disperse, and
meanwhile to take shelter in his rooms with his wife, who showed me the
kindest attention."

"Monsieur--" said Monsieur de Lamotte, rising. But his wife stopped him.

"Wait a moment; I have not finished yet. Monsieur Derues came back in
an hour, and I was then feeling better; but before, I left I was stupid
enough to say that I had been robbed in the confusion; my diamond
earrings, which had belong