"It is all settled," she said; "here are the twenty thousand francs you need to silence the girl; and now try to bring honor to your new position."
Madeleine placed a pocket-book on the table and went away. Talizac laughed in his sleeve. He did not think he could obtain the money so easily.
CHAPTER XVII
LOUISON
Toward noon Louison awoke from the lethargic sleep in which Rolla's liquid had thrown her, and her first look fell upon the virago, who was sitting in a half-drunken condition near the window. The young girl unconsciously uttered a cry when she saw the repulsive woman, and this cry aroused Rolla from out of her dreams about well-filled brandy bottles into reality.
"Well, my pigeon, how goes it?" she asked, grinning.
"My head hurts," replied Louison faintly, and throwing an anxious look about the strange apartment, she timidly added: "Where am I?"
"Where are you? Among good people certainly, who have become interested in you and will do what's right."