She was probably going to repair the disorder of her toilet and I did the same on my side.

The hall clock struck five when the young woman re-entered the room, sat down in a chair opposite me and looked calmly at me. After a short silence, I said:

"Mademoiselle, or Madame, sit a little nearer and forgive my silence. I am still under the spell your charms have thrown over me."

As she approached, I took her hand and drew her down onto my lap.

"Have you any family, Monsieur Dormeuil?" she finally asked.

I shook my head. "No," I said, surprised at her question.

"I see-you are a horrid old bachelor!" she said with a pout. I bowed, a little flattered.

"Not too old though," she soon added smilingly, "or you might have come off worse than you did. You love to spend your nights in debaucheries, I suppose, like Monsieur Lorille. I must introduce you to that gentleman, he is a dear friend of mine and has related some of his adventures to me.

"He has had many and knows many more, but the one which follows is one of his most entertaining."

CHAPTER TWO

"Not far from the Varennes, on the banks of the Aire," she began in a dreamy way, "stands a convent, in a little valley nestling among the mountains.

"The good nuns there spend their lives in prayer and in sewing for the orphans of the village. Their number, when the convent is full, is about forty. The little church, situated in the middle of the village, counts among its flock the inhabitants of the country for ten miles round and includes the convent in question.

"The officiating priest being old and feeble, was assisted by a young Abbe who had arrived only a few days previous to the opening of this story. The young Abbe was of such modest demeanour, that even the oldest bigots of the parish took him for a saint in swaddling clothes.