"Do you know English, Mary?" "No, Madame. I have already told Madame so."
"Ah! to be sure. I regret it. Turn a little, Mary, that I may look at you."
She examined me from every point of view, front, back, and profile, murmuring from time to time:
"Well, she is not bad; she is rather good-looking."
And suddenly:
"Tell me, Mary, have you a good figure ... a very good figure?"
This question surprised and disturbed me. I did not grasp the connection between my service in the house and the shape of my body. But, without waiting for my reply, Madame said, talking to herself, and surveying my entire person from head to foot, through her face-à-main:
"Yes, she seems to have a good figure enough."
Then, addressing me directly, she exclaimed, with a satisfied smile:
"You see, Mary, I like to have about me only women with good figures. It is more suitable."