Silence followed.
"Whom do--"
"I wish to see M. Honoré Grandissime."
"That is my name, madame."
"Ah!"--with an angelic smile; she had collected her wits now, and was ready for war. "You are not one of his clerks?"
M. Grandissime smiled softly, while he said to himself: "You little honey-bee, you want to sting me, eh?" and then he answered her question.
"No, madame; I am the gentleman you are looking for."
"The gentleman she was look--" her pride resented the fact. "Me!"--thought she--"I am the lady whom, I have not a doubt, you have been longing to meet ever since the ball;" but her look was unmoved gravity. She touched her handkerchief to her lips and handed him the rent notice.
"I received that from your office the Monday before last."
There was a slight emphasis in the announcement of the time; it was the day of the run-over.