"So it doesn't fit, this mantle you speak of?" resumed Madame de Boves. "Ah! now I remember the young person. It's rather dark in your ante-room."
"Yes," added Madame Marty, "I was wondering where I had seen that figure. Well, go, my dear, don't stand on ceremony with us."
Henriette assumed a look of disdainful unconcern. "Oh, presently, there is no hurry."
The ladies continued to discuss the articles from the big shops. Then Madame de Boves spoke of her husband, who, she said, had gone to inspect the breeding depot at Saint-Lô; and just then Henriette was relating that through the illness of an aunt Madame Guibal had been suddenly called into Franche-Comté. Moreover, she did not reckon that day on Madame Bourdelais, who at the end of every month shut herself up with a needlewoman to lo
