Mademoiselle de Meuriot [holding a letter in her hand] Oh, Chanteuil, what have you done? Here's somebody perfectly furious. She says she asked you to give her some information in the beauty column. [Reading] It was something she was mistaken about. She wrote under the name of "Always Young," and apparently you've answered "Always Young is a mistake." She thinks you did it to insult her. You must write her a letter of apologies.
Madame Chanteuil. Yes, Mademoiselle.
Mademoiselle de Meuriot [holding up another letter] "Little Questions of Sentiment." This is for you, Thérèse. [She reads] "I feel so sad because I am getting old," etc. Answer, "Why this sadness—"
Thérèse. "White hairs are a crown of—" [She writes a few words in pencil upon the letter which Mademoiselle de Meuriot has passed to her]
Mademoiselle de Meuriot. "Astral Influences." [Looking round] Who is "Astral Influences"?
Madame Chanteuil. I am.
Mademoiselle de Meuriot [passing her letters] Here are two, three—one without a post office order. Put that one straight into the waste paper basket. Remember that you must always promise them luck, with little difficulties to give success more flavor. And be sure to tell them they're full of good qualities, with some little amiable weaknesses and the sort of defects one enjoys boasting about. [Going on reading] "About using whites of eggs to take the sharpness out of sorrel," "To take out ink-stains." These are for you, dear.
Mademoiselle Grégoire. Yes. [She takes the letters] I didn't think of that when I took my degree.
Mademoiselle de Meuriot [continuing] "Stoutness"; that's for you too. [Glancing again at the letter] What does this one want? [Fluttering the leaves] Four pages; ah, here we are—"A slender figure—smaller hips—am not too stout anywhere else." That's for the doctor. [She gives the letter to Mademoiselle Grégoire with several others]
Mademoiselle Grégoire. Iodiform soap.