"What is it you want, mademoiselle?" asked he at last.
Denise had not noticed him. She blushed slightly. Since her return she had received marks of kindness from him which greatly touched her. Pauline, without her knowing why, had given her a full account of the governor's and Clara's love affairs: where he saw her, and what he paid her; and she often returned to the subject, even adding that he had another mistress, that Madame Desforges, well known by all the shop. Such stories stirred up Denise, she felt in his presence all her former fears, an uneasiness in which her gratitude was struggling against her anger.
"It's all this confusion going on in the place," she murmured. Mouret then approached her and said in a lower voice: "Have the goodness to come to my office this evening after
