"The beautiful spectacle!" assented Madame Valière.
"Ah! but I don't forget—if she does—that her mother wheeled a fruit-barrow through the streets of Tonnerre!"
"Ah! yes, I knew you were from Tonnerre—dear Tonnerre!"
"How did you know?"
"Naturally, Madame la Propriétaire."
"The old gossip!" cried Madame Dépine—"though not so old as she feigns. But did she tell you of her mother, too, and the fruit-barrow?"
"I knew her mother—une brave femme."
"I do not say not," said Madame Dépine, a whit disconcerted. "Nevertheless, when one's mother is a merchant of the four seasons—"
"Provided she sold fruit as good as this! Take another fig, I beg of you."
"Thank you. These are indeed excellent," said Madame Dépine. "She owed all her good fortune to a coup in the lottery."