"I certainly shall not receive you on the landing, monsieur; please walk in."
"But, madame, I have come for Mademoiselle Rosette, your niece, to——"
"You will offend me by staying out here, monsieur."
I had to give way. I went in, hoping to remain in the first room; but Madame Piquette pushed me toward a door at the farther end, making another reverence. I concluded to enter the second room, which with the first seemed to form the whole suite. And no Rosette! Could it be that I had made another fruitless journey?
"I come, madame, from——"
"Pray be good enough to sit down, monsieur."
"It is not worth while, madame. I wanted to see Mademoiselle Rosette, your niece——"
"You will mortify me by standing, monsieur."
I had no desire to mortify Madame Piquette, but I was inclined to regret little Aunt Riflot at that moment. At last we were both seated. Madame Piquette put a small rug under my feet. Did she think that I had come to pass the day with her? She glanced in the mirror, and rearranged her cap strings on her breast. That pantomime alarmed me; I looked about in dismay; but for some unknown reason, I did not let my eyes rest on Madame Piquette, who had partly unfastened her neckerchief. Mon Dieu! what was the woman thinking of? At last, she finished her manœuvring, and I hastened to say, without stopping for breath:
"I have come from Madame Berlingot's finishing shop on Rue Pinon, to ask Mademoiselle Rosette to mend a cashmere shawl."