, "the noise they make
with their great boots! and precisely Madame la Comtesse, au
_premier_, had an _attaque des nerfs_ this evening, and said the
house was as noisy as a barrack--but these things always happen
at unfortunate moments!"

No one answered this little speech, which, in fact, was
addressed to no one in particular. It was, perhaps, not
altogether Madame Lavaux' fault that through long habit her
instincts as the proprietor of a large hotel had ended by
predominating so far over her instincts as a woman as always
to come to hand first. The nice adjustment between the claims
of conscience and the claims of self-interest, between the
demands of her bills and the demands of never-satisfied,
exacting travellers, alone involved a daily recurring
struggle, in which the softer emotions would have been
altogether out of place, we may suppose. In the present
instance she considered it a hard case that her house should
be turned topsy-turvy at such an untimely hour, and its
general propriety endangered thereby; and Madelon's grief,
which at another time would have excited her compassion, had
for the moment taken the unexpected form of determined
opposition, and could only be looked upon as another element
of disturbance. Madelon herself, however, who could hardly be
expected to regard her father's accident with a view to those
wider issues that naturally presented themselves to Madame
Lavaux, simply felt that she was being cruelly ill-used. She
had not attended to a word of this last speech, but
nevertheless she had detected the want of sympathy, and it by
no means increased her desire to accede to Madame's wishes.

"I _will_ go to papa," she repeated, the sense of antagonism
that had come uppermost gaining strength and vehemence from
the consciousness of the underlying grief and sore trouble
that had aroused it, "or I will stay here if you will not let
me pass; rather than go away I will stand here all night."

Graham had heard nothing of this little altercation, but now
coming out of the bed-room to speak to Madame Lavaux, he found
a most determined little Madelon standing with her hands
clasped behind her, and her back set firmly against the wall,
absolutely refusing to retreat.

She sprang forward, however, as soon as she saw him.

"I may go to papa now, may I not?" she cried.

"Mademoiselle wants to go to her papa," says Madame, at the
same moment, "I beg of you, Monsieur, to tell her it is
impossible,