rter to show them the staircase in the
Arsenal, where she is living, and to point out the door before he goes
off with the light.

They wait in darkness. The account of what happens when the door is
opened is so interesting that I cannot refrain from quoting it at
length:--

After ringing the bell we presently heard doors open and little
footsteps approaching nigh. The door was opened by a girl of about
Honora's size, holding an ill set-up, wavering candle in her hand,
the light of which fell full upon her face and figure. Her face
was remarkably intelligent--dark sparkling eyes, dark hair curled
in the most fashionable long corkscrew ringlets over her eyes and
cheeks. She parted the ringlets to take a full view of us. The
dress of her figure by no means suited the head and elegance of
her attitude. What her nether weeds might be we could not
distinctly see, but they seemed a coarse short petticoat like what
Molly Bristow's children would wear. After surveying us and
hearing our name was Edgeworth she smiled graciously and bid us
follow her, saying, 'Maman est chez elle.' She led the way with
the grace of a young lady who has been taught to dance across two
ante-chambers, miserable-looking; but, miserable or not, no home
in Paris can be without them. The girl, or young lady, for we were
still in doubt which to think her, led into a small room in which
the candles were so well screened by a green tin screen that we
could scarcely distinguish the tall form of a lady in black who
rose from her chair by the fireside; as the door opened a great
puff of smoke came from the huge fireplace at the same moment. She
came forward, and we made our way towards her as well as we could
through a confusion of tables, chairs, and work-baskets, china,
writing-desks and inkstands, and birdcages, and a harp. She did
not speak, and as her back was now turned to both fire and candle
I could not see her face or anything but the outline of her form
and her attitude. Her form was the remains of a fine form, her
attitude that of a woman used to a better drawing-room.

I being foremost, and she silent, was compelled to speak to the
figure in darkness. 'Madame de Genlis nous a fait l'honneur de
nous mander qu'elle voulait bien nous permettre de lui rendre
visite,' said I, or words to that effect, to which she replied by