"Without knowing who these people are who say napoleons as if it would scorch their mouths if they should utter the word louis. But it is all plain enough now," she added, sardonically. "Tell me who you go with and I will tell you who you are. Now what do you want with me? I have my soup pot to watch."
"As I told you before, madame, I came to bring you a slight token of Madame de Beaumesnil's gratitude for the discretion and reserve you displayed in a certain affair."
"What affair?"
"You know very well."
"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean."
"Come, come, my dear Madame Barbançon, why will you not be perfectly frank with me? I was one of Madame de Beaumesnil's most intimate friends, and I know all about that orphan—you know—that orphan."
"That orphan?"
"Yes, that young girl, I need say no more. You see I know all about it."
"Then if you know all about it, why do you come here to question me?"
"I come in the interest of the young girl—you know who I mean—to ask you to give me her address, as I have a very important communication to make to her."