"I care not, I care not at all," said little Margot. "I will not act the lie even for thee, grand'mère. I wish that thou wouldst let me go no more to the shop."
"Ah, but thou must—thou art the fortune of the établissement, ma petite," said grand'mère. "And think what fun it will be selling chapeaux to others and never to the proud Comtesse. We will get someone else for her and thou needst not serve her."
"Très bien," answered little Margot and she entered her grandfather's presence with a toss of her pretty head.
But the next day at school things did not go so well with the little Comtesse. It was quite evident that much as Dorothy had admired her the day before, Hébé had brought her round to the impossibility of having anything to do with a girl who sold hats at a shop. Dorothy not only came round to Hébé's view of the question, but she enlightened her school-fellows with the true status of the little Comtesse.
"She's all a sham," said Dorothy. "I won't speak to her any more, no, not me!"
Margot was beginning to get rather fond of Dorothy, but she took her English friend's desertion very coolly. She thought out matters in her acute little brain. She let the French girls alone, but there were, including herself and Dorothy, sixteen English girls in the school. These girls were all very much about the same age as Margot. She got them into one of the very small salons, which abounded in the old palace, now converted into a school. They all looked askance at her, but it was difficult to keep from smiling back into those smiling and beautiful dark eyes and it was still more difficult to resist the dimples that played round the lips and cheeks of the little Comtesse.
"See, behold, listen!" she exclaimed. "Dorothy Duncan does not like me because I help Madame Marcelle in her magasin. She pretends I am not a lady—that is not true. I am a lady and my Irish grandfather has a title higher up than the stars. What do we think of Comtes in Ireland when we have 'The's' of the most ancient! Ma belle grand'mère has asked me to help Madame Marcelle a little bit. Ma belle grand'mère does great things for me and for mon bon grandpère. She is a woman oh, of the noblest, and there is not a château greater or better than ours at Arles. Now, behold, listen! What sort of château does the Marquis keep? Is it tidy, is it neat? Are there good things to eat therein? I guess not. Now, if you English girls will take my part I will take you to the établissement of Madame Marcelle and get you a hat each at cost price. You will have to pay ever so much less than the Lady Hébé paid when I flung her chapeaux back into her face."
"Ah, but didst thou, indeed, little one?" said Agnes Martin.
Jane Raynor burst into a fit of laughter. All the English girls with the exception of Dorothy were brought over to Margot in a body and on the following morning she had a tremendous sale of hats, which she gave by Madame la Comtesse's express wish to the bevy of English schoolgirls.
She chose the hats with great care and exquisite taste. Having done this, she went back to la belle grand'mère and told her that she did not wish to continue at the school with Lady Dorothy.