e. Pray go into my private room; and this gentleman is with you?
Do me the favor, sir, to come with us."

He was about to follow his guests, when one of the ladies started
forward.

"One word with you, sir, for goodness sake!" cried she.

Van Klopen turned sharply upon her.

"What is the matter?" asked he.

"My bill for three thousand francs falls due to-morrow."

"Very likely."

"But I can't meet it."

"That is not my affair."

"I have come to beg you will renew it for two months, or say one month,
on whatever terms you like."

"In two months," answered the man brutally, "you will be no more able to
pay than you are to-day. If you can't pay it, it will be noted."

"Merciful powers! then my husband will learn all."

"Just so; that will be what I want; for he will then have to pay me."

The wretched woman grew deadly pale.

"My husband will pay you," said she; "but I shall be lost."

"That is not my lookout. I have partners whose interests I have to
consult."

"Do not say that, sir! He has paid my debts once, and if he should be
angry and take my children from me--Dear M. Van Klopen, be merciful!"

She wrung her hands, and the tears coursed down her cheeks; but the
tailor was perfectly unmoved.

"When a woman has a family of children, one ought to have in a
needlewoman by the hour."

She did not desist from her efforts to soften him, and, seizing his
hand, strove to carry it to her lips.

"Ah! I shall never dare to go home," wailed she; "never have the courage
to tell my husband."

"If you are afraid of your own husband, go to some one else's," said he
roughly; and tearing himself from her, he followed Mascarin and Paul.

"Did you hear that?" asked he, as soon as he had closed the door of his
room with an angry slam. "These things occasionally occur, and are not
particularly pleasant."

Paul looked on in disgust. If he had possessed three thousand francs, he
would have given them to this unhappy woman, whose sobs he could still
hear in the passage.

"It is most painful," remarked he.

"My dear sir," said the tailor, "you attach too much importance to these
hysterical outbursts. If you were in my place, you would soon have to
put their right value on them. As I said before, I have to look after
my own and my partners' interests. These dear creatures care for nothing
but dress; father, husband, and children are as nothing in comparison.
You cannot imagine what a woman will do in order to ge