"but that lady, who is a stranger to me"....

"Oh--oh--oh!" cried Mueller.

"Who is a stranger to me," I repeated, "and who passes her evenings in
study, must not be annoyed by noises in my room. Surely, my dear fellow,
you know me well enough to understand whether I am in jest or
in earnest."

Mueller laid his hand upon my sleeve.

"Enough--enough," he said, smiling good-naturedly. "You are right, and I
will be as dumb as Plato. What is the lady's name."

"Dufresnoy," I answered, somewhat reluctantly. "Mademoiselle Dufresnoy."

"Ay, but her Christian name!"

"Her Christian name," I faltered, more reluctant still. "I--I--"

"Don't say you don't know," said Mueller, maliciously. "It isn't worth
while. After all, what does it matter? Here's to her health, all the
same--_a votre sante_, Mademoiselle Dufresnoy! What! not drink her
health, though I have filled your glass on purpose?"

There was no help for it, so I took the glass and drank the toast with
the best grace I could.

"And now, tell me," continued my companion, drawing nearer to the fire
and settling himself with a confidential air that was peculiarly
provoking, "what is she like? Young or old? Dark or fair? Plain
or pretty?"

"Old," said I, desperately. "Old and ugly. Fifty at the least. Squints
horribly."

Then, thinking that I had been a little too emphatic, I added:--

"But a very ladylike person, and exceedingly well-informed,"

Mueller looked at me gravely, and filled his glass again.

"I think I know the lady," said he.

"Indeed?"

"Yes--by your description. You forgot to add, however, that she is
gray."

"To be sure--as a badger."

"To say nothing of a club foot, an impediment in her speech, a voice
like a raven's, and a hump like a dromedary's! Ah! my dear friend, what
an amazingly comic fellow you are!"

And the student burst again into a peal of laughter so hearty and
infectious that I could not have helped joining in it to save my life.

"And now," said he, when we had laughed ourselves out of breath, "now to
the object of my visit. Do you remember asking me, months ago, to make
you a copy of an old portrait that you had taken a fancy to in some
tumble-down chateau near Montlhery!"

"To be sure; and I have intended, over and over again, to remind you of
it. Did you ever take the trouble to go over there and look at it?"

"Look at it, indeed! I should rather think so--and here is the proof.
What does your connoisseurship sa