n she promised to
come. You know Madame Menoux's place, do you not? It is the third shop
in the first street on the left." Then she apologized for being unable
to conduct him thither: "I am alone," she said; "we still have no news
of the master. On Wednesdays Madame presides at the meeting of her
society, and Mademoiselle Andree has just gone out walking with her
uncle."

Mathieu hastily repaired to Madame Menoux's shop. From a distance he saw
her standing on the threshold; age had made her thinner than ever; at
forty she was as slim as a young girl, with a long and pointed face.
Silent labor consumed her; for twenty years she had been desperately
selling bits of cotton and packages of needles without ever making a
fortune, but pleased, nevertheless, at being able to add her modest
gains to her husband's monthly salary in order to provide him with
sundry little comforts. His rheumatism would no doubt soon compel him to
relinquish his post as a museum attendant, and how would they be able to
manage with his pension of a few hundred francs per annum if she did not
keep up her business? Moreover, they had met with no luck. Their first
child had died, and some years had elapsed before the birth of a second
boy, whom they had greeted with delight, no doubt, though he would prove
a heavy burden to them, especially as they had now decided to take him
back from the country. Thus Mathieu found the worthy woman in a state of
great emotion, waiting for the child on the threshold of her shop, and
watching the corner of the avenue.

"Oh! it was Celeste who sent you, monsieur! No, La Couteau hasn't come
yet. I'm quite astonished at it; I expect her every moment. Will you
kindly step inside, monsieur, and sit down?"

He refused the only chair which blocked up the narrow passage where
scarcely three customers could have stood in a row. Behind a glass
partition one perceived the dim back shop, which served as kitchen and
dining-room and bedchamber, and which received only a little air from a
damp inner yard which suggested a sewer shaft.

"As you see, monsieur, we have scarcely any room," continued Madame
Menoux; "but then we pay only eight hundred francs rent, and where else
could we find a shop at that price? And besides, I have been here for
nearly twenty years, and have worked up a little regular custom in the
neighborhood. Oh! I don't complain of the place myself, I'm not big,
there is always sufficient room for me. And as my h