, with something at once rigid and supple. And a god, Bes,
who looks like Sarcey! My goodness, how beautiful it all is!"

"Pardon me, but I do not yet quite understand----"

"I haven't finished. I went to your lecture on the toilet of a woman of
the Middle Empire, and I took notes. It was rather dry, your lecture,
but I grubbed away at it. By aid of all these notes I have designed a
costume. But it is not quite right yet. So I have come to beg you to
correct it. Do come to me to-morrow! Will you? Do me that honour for the
love of Egypt! You will, won't you? Till to-morrow, I must hurry off.
Mama is in the carriage waiting for me."

She disappeared as she said these last words, and I followed. When I
reached the vestibule she was already at the foot of the stairs and from
here I heard her clear voice call up:

"Till to-morrow. Avenue du Bois-de-Boulogne, at the corner of the Villa
Said."

"I shall not go to see this mad creature," I said to myself.

The next afternoon at four o'clock I rang the door-bell. A footman led
me into an immense, well-lighted hall crowded with pictures and statues
in marble and bronze; sedan chairs in _Vernis Martin_ set with porcelain
plaques; Peruvian mummies; a dozen dummy figures of men and horses in
full armour, over which, by reason of their great height, towered a
Polish cavalier with white wings on his shoulders and a French knight
equipped for the tournament, his helmet bearing a crest of a woman's
head with pointed coif and flowing veil.

An entire grove of palm-trees in tubs reared their foliage in this hall,
and in their midst was seated a gigantic Buddha in gold. At the foot of
the god sat a shabbily dressed old woman reading the Bible.

I was still dazzled by these many marvels when the purple hangings
were raised and Miss Morgan appeared in a white _peignoir_ trimmed with
swans-down. She was followed by two great, long-muzzled boarhounds.

"I was sure you would come, Monsieur Pigeonneau."

I stammered a compliment.

"How could one possibly refuse anything to so charming a lady?"

"O, it is not because I am pretty that I am never refused anything. I
have secrets by which I make myself obeyed."

Then, pointing to the old lady who was reading the Bible, she said to
me:

"Pay no attention to her, that is mama. I shall not introduce you.
Should you speak she could not reply; she belongs to a religious sect
which forbids unnecessary conversation. It is the very latest th