d to start the next morning, I went to wish
Gilberte goodbye, and tell her why I could not dine with them on
Wednesday, but on Friday, the day of my return. Ah! Take care of Fridays,
for I assure you they are unlucky!

"When I told her that I had to go to Germany, I saw that her eyes filled
with tears, but when I said I should be back very soon, she clapped her
hands, and said:

"'I am very glad you are going, then! You must bring me back something; a
mere trifle, just a souvenir, but a souvenir that you have chosen for me.
You must find out what I should like best, do you hear? And then I shall
see whether you have any imagination.'

"She thought for a few moments, and then added:

"'I forbid you to spend more than twenty francs on it. I want it for the
intention, and for the remembrance of your penetration, and not for its
intrinsic value.'

"And then, after another moment's silence, she said, in a low voice, and
with downcast eyes.

"'If it costs you nothing in money, and if it is something very ingenious
and pretty, I will ... I will kiss you.'

"The next day, I was in Cologne. It was the case of a terrible accident,
which had thrown a whole family into despair, and a difficult amputation
was necessary. They put me up; I might say, they almost locked me up, and
I saw nobody but people in tears, who almost deafened me with their
lamentations; I operated on a man who appeared to be in a moribund state,
and who nearly died under my hands, and with whom I remained two nights,
and then, when I saw that there was a chance for his recovery, I drove to
the station. I had, however, made a mistake in the trains, and I had an
hour to wait, and so I wandered about the streets, still thinking of my
poor patient, when a man accosted me. I do not know German, and he was
totally ignorant of French, but at last I made out that he was offering
me some relics. I thought of Gilberte, for I knew her fanatical devotion,
and here was my present ready to hand, so I followed the man into a shop
where religious objects were for sale, and I bought _a small piece of a
bone of one of the Eleven Thousand Virgins_.

"The pretended relic was enclosed in a charming, old silver box, and that
determined my choice, and putting my purchase into my pocket, I went to
the railway station, and so to Paris.

"As soon as I got home, I wished to examine my purchase again, and on
taking hold of it, I found that the box was open, and the relic lost! I