“Do you think there is enough there to pay you?”
“Oh! madame, if I had all that, I should be rich for the rest of my life. But in what will madame spend all that?”
“In everything.”
“The first thing, I think, madame, will be to furnish the kitchen, for you will have good dinners cooked now.”
“Listen!” said Madame de la Motte; “someone knocks.”
“I did not hear it,” said the old woman.
“But I tell you that I did; so go at once.” She hastily gathered up her money, and put it into a drawer, murmuring, “Oh! if Providence will but send me another such a visitor.” Then she heard the steps of a man below, but could not distinguish what he said. Soon however, the door opened, and Clotilde came in with a letter.
The countess examined it attentively, and asked, “Was this brought by a servant?”
“Yes, madame.”
“In livery?”