dramas of this house, alert, busy, cjmical, and
comical. In the morning he disappeared, with his
face of a little pink and shaven faun, with his
documents, with his bag stuffed with pious pamph-
lets and obscene newspapers. In the evening he
reappeared, cravated with respectability, armored
with Christian Socialism, his gait a little slower,
his gestures a little more oily, his back slightly
bent, doubtless under the weight of the good works
done during the day. Regularly every Friday he
gave me the week's issues of indecent journals,
awaiting just the right occasion for making his
declaration, and contenting himself with smiling
at me with the air of an accomplice, caressing my
chin, and saying to me, as he passed his tongue
over his lips:
"Ho, ho, she is a very queer little one, indeed!"
As it amused me to watch Monsieur's game, I did not discourage him, but I promised myself to seize the first exceptionally favorable opportunity to sharply put him where he belonged.
One afternoon I was greatly surprised to see him enter the linen-room, where I sat alone, musing sadly over my work. In the morning I had had a painful scene with M. Xavier, and was still under the influence of the impression it had left on me. Monsieur closed the door softly, placed his bag on the large table near a pile of cloth, and,