he man's wounded feelings.

Alas! the poor girl did not know that one is always at liberty to pledge
an article only for a given sum, a part of its real value; and she was
too inexperienced in such matters to notice the reference to that mode
of pawning on her receipt. However, it was one of those mishaps for poor
Henrietta which cannot be mended, and from which we never recover. She
lost two months' existence, the very time, perhaps, that was needed till
Daniel's return. Still the day when the rent was due came, and she paid
her hundred francs. The second day after that, she was once more without
money, and, according to Mrs. Chevassat's elegant expression, forced
to "live on her poor possessions." But the pawnbroker had too cruelly
disappointed her calculations: she would not resort to him again, and
risk a second disappointment.

This time she thought she would, instead of pawning, sell, her gold-
dressing-case; and she requested the obliging lady below to procure her
a purchaser. At first Mrs. Chevassat raised a host of objections.

"To sell such a pretty toy!" she said, "it's murder! Just think, you'll
never see it again. If, on the other hand, you carry it to 'Uncle' you
can take it out again as soon as you have a little money."

But she lost her pains, she saw and at last consented to bring up a kind
of dealer in toilet-articles, an excellent honest man, she declared, in
whom one could put the most absolute confidence. And he really showed
himself worthy of her warm recommendation; for he offered instantly five
hundred francs for the dressing-case, which was not worth much more
than three times as much. Nor was this his last bid. After an hour's
irritating discussions, after having ten times pretended to leave the
room, he drew with many sighs his _portemonnaie_ from its secret home,
and counted upon the table the seven hundred francs in gold upon which
Henrietta had stoutly insisted.

That was enough to pay Mrs. Chevassat for four months' board.

"But no," said the poor young girl to herself, "that would be
pusillanimous in the highest degree."

And that very evening she summoned all her courage, and told the
formidable woman in a firm tone of voice, that henceforth she would only
take one meal, dinner. She had chosen this half-way measure in order
not to avoid a scene, for that she knew she could not hope for, but a
regular falling-out.

Contrary to all expectations, the concierge's wife appeared neithe