"You will learn the tongue of the French so ravishing in those apartments set aside for les robes," cried Madame. "Come, my little Comtesse, you are a genius and must not throw away your gift."
"I tell you I am fatiguée," cried Margot. "I will not enter a shop; I will go to school. It is a vow taken. Where is my grand'mère? See, I will do nothing more in your horrid shop."
"Ah, ma pauvre petite," cried the good-natured Madame. "La petite, she is tired out and no wonder. Ah, ma chérie is it not for your own dot? Now, come, listen. There is one playing in the other room. He is playing those delicious songs of Wagnère. Courage, mon enfant. You have done well and are tired. Ah, look at that robe in exquisite satin, coloured as the oyster, and that single row of pearls round the neck and that magnificent diamond star crowning the summit of le chevelure! See the air it lends. Will you not help me to sell that costume so ravishing, my little Comtesse?"
"Non, non, I hate it all!" said Margot. "I will listen to the music of Wagnère until my French mistress comes and then I will return to M'sieur le Comte St. Juste, mon grandpère. Ah, but I am miserable—miserable in a shop. What would The Desmond say if he saw his pushkeen in a shop?"
Madame saw that she had gone as far as she could with the little Comtesse. She placed her where she could listen to the beautiful music which delighted the child and soothed her troubled heart, and then a young Frenchman entered the appartement, and with his knees and heels tightly pressed together made a very low bow to the little Comtesse St. Juste. He began talking to her in a lively manner in the French tongue, correcting her mistakes and teaching her how to use the French language properly.
Margot was a wonderfully quick little pupil, but she sprang up with delight when she saw the Comtesse enter.
The Comtesse had an earnest conversation with Madame and approached Margot, her black eyes full of smiles and her cheeks very bright.
"Ah, but thou art of the very best, mon enfant," she cried, and she took the little Comtesse in her arms and kissed her before everyone in the shop.
The child and the woman got into the motor-car and drove off as quickly as possible in the direction of the château.