Madame Pradère showed a spirit of irresistible pleasantry through it all. She was evidently delighted at having gained the cause of little Nadine, who was so anxiously awaiting the result in the adjoining room.
"And now, gentlemen," concluded Madame, "will you permit me to present to you the chief of my troupe, who is just here, and whom I don't want to keep waiting any longer?"
"By all means, Madame," responded the officers. "It will give us much pleasure."
The servant, Françoise, was accordingly directed to bring in Nadine.
"Madame is carried away by these mountebanks," growled Françoise as she went back to the kitchen after doing as she had been bid. "It's enough for these strolling players to have children to get her interest ever since she lost her own."
Nadine, blushing and bewildered, stood in the door of the dining-room where Françoise had left her. The brilliant company of officers, the sumptuous table decorated with plants and flowers, and laden with dainties such as she had never in her life tasted, and the whole richness of the room, took her breath away, so to speak, and she could not lift her eyes from the floor.
"Don't be dismayed, my child!" said Madame kindly, quite understanding the cause of Nadine's confusion. "Come forward, and give your papers to the Mayor, whom you see there."
Nadine shyly glided up to his worship, and handed him the papers which she took with great care out of the old battered portfolio.