such sweet pretty ones! Oh, that is my chief
indulgence and expense!"

"I will try to come and see you, but certainly I will write you. So
good-bye, my dear, dear Rigolette! Adieu! Oh, if you only knew how happy
I feel at having met with you again!"

"And, I am sure, so do I; but I trust we shall soon see each other
again; and, besides, I am so impatient to know whether your M. Rodolph
is the same as mine. Pray write to me very soon upon this subject, will
you? Promise you will!"

"Indeed I will! Adieu, dear Rigolette!"

"Farewell, my very dear Goualeuse!"

And again the two poor girls, each striving to conceal their distress at
parting, indulged in a long and affectionate embrace. Rigolette then
turned away, to enter the prison for the purpose of visiting Louise,
according to the kind permission obtained for her by Rodolph, while
Fleur-de-Marie, with Madame Seraphin, got into the coach which was
waiting for them. The coachman was instructed to proceed to Batignolles,
and to stop at the barrier. A cross-road of inconsiderable length
conducted from this spot almost directly to the borders of the Seine,
not far from the Isle du Ravageur. Wholly unacquainted with the locality
of Paris, Fleur-de-Marie was unable to detect that the vehicle did not
take the road to the Barrier St. Denis; it was only when the coach
stopped at Batignolles, and she was requested by Madame Seraphin to
alight, that she said:

"It seems to me, madame, that we are not in the road to Bouqueval; and
how shall we be able to walk from hence to the farm?"

"All that I can tell you, my dear child," answered the _femme de
charge_, kindly, "is, that I am obeying their orders given me by your
benefactors, and that you will pain them greatly if you keep your
friends waiting."

"Oh, not for worlds would I be so presuming and ungrateful as to oppose
their slightest wish!" exclaimed poor Fleur-de-Marie, with kindling
warmth, "and I beseech you, madame, to pardon my seeming hesitation;
but, since you plead the commands of my revered protectors, depend upon
my following you blindly and silently whithersoever you are pleased to
take me. Only tell me, is Madame Georges quite well?"

"Oh, in most excellent health and spirits!"

"And M. Rodolph?"

"Perfectly well, also."

"Then you know him? But, madame, when I was speaking to Rigolette
concerning him just now, you did not seem to be acquainted with him; at
least, you did not say so."

"Because, in