xiously all the while for the appearance of that illustrious
ornament of her sex, to whom they were addressed; and the servant's
'_petit moment_' had become a good _petit quart d'heure_, when the
drawing-room door opened, and in glided, not the Goddess, but the
Spider.

"She had come to beg Monsieur (that was me) to have the bounty to excuse
Madam (that was the Waldoborough), who had caused herself to be waited
for, and who, I was assured, would give herself '_le plaisir de me voir
dans un tout petit moment_.' So saying, with a smile, she seated
herself; and, discovering that I was an American, began to talk bad
English to me. I may say execrable English; for it is a habit your
Frenchwoman often has, to abandon her own facile and fluent vernacular,
which she speaks so charmingly, in order to show off a wretched
smattering she may have acquired of your language,--from politeness,
possibly, but I rather think from vanity. In the mean time Arachne
busied her long agile fingers with some very appropriate embroidery; and
busied her mind, too, I couldn't help thinking, weaving some intricate
web of mischief,--for her eyes sparkled as they looked at me with a
certain gleeful, malicious expression,--seeming to say, 'You have walked
into my parlor, Mr. Fly, and I am sure to entangle you!' which made me
feel uncomfortable.

"The '_tout petit moment_' had become another good quarter of an hour,
when the door again opened, and Madam--Madam herself--the Waldoborough
appeared! Did you ever see flounces? did you ever witness expansion?
have your eyes ever beheld the--so to speak--new-risen sun trailing
clouds of glory over the threshold of the dawn? You should have seen
Madam enter that room; you should have seen the effulgence of the
greeting smile she gave me; then you wouldn't wonder that I was dazzled.

"She filled and overflowed with her magnificence the most royal fauteuil
in the saloon, and talked to me of my Todworth cousin, and of my
Todworth cousin's husband, and of London, and America,--occasionally
turning aside to show off her bad French by speaking to the Spider,
until another quarter of an hour had elapsed. Then Paris was mentioned;
one of us happened to speak of the Gobelins,--I cannot now recall which
it was first uttered that fatal word to me, the direful spring of woes
unnumbered! Had I visited the Gobelins? I had not, but I anticipated
having that pleasure soon.

"'Long as I have lived in Paris, I have never ye