"You sing, mademoiselle?"
"A little," said Blanche, "and do you sing, Ursule?"
"Sometimes."
"That's better still. You shall teach me the songs of your country and I will teach you the ones that I know."
"You will let me come to see you again, then, mademoiselle?"
"Certainly, every evening, if you can. Remember that I am very lonely by myself, in place of which I shall amuse myself with you. She can come to see us every evening, Marguerite, can't she? M. Touquet won't be angry, will he?"
Marguerite during this conversation had remained in meditation and in ecstasy before Ursule's talisman. She would have given all the world to possess it in her new room, where she had much trouble in going to sleep, but the name of her master drew her from these reflections and she cried,—
"What are you saying about M. Touquet; that he knows we are receiving this young girl without his permission? Oh, no, indeed!"
"But, dear nurse, that's why it is necessary to ask him."
"Ah, mademoiselle," said Urbain, "he will refuse it, and I shall be deprived of the pleasure of seeing you."