"In that case we will say nothing; but if he would take you into his service?"
"Monsieur does not wish to have anybody else in the house. What could Ursule do here?"
"It's a pity, for Ursule must find a place to earn her living; how very disagreeable it is to have a talisman which preserves you from all danger and allows you to die of hunger. It's exactly like mine."
"Oh, I still have time to wait I have a prospect of something before me," said Urbain, "and my expenses are so very little."
"Had your ancestors ever any occasion to prove the virtue of this talisman?" said Marguerite.
"Yes, mademoiselle, many circumstances prove that, and, above all, my mother had a very strange adventure."
"An adventure," said the old woman, drawing her chair to the hearth. At this moment the church clock struck nine. "O heavens! nine o'clock," said Marguerite, "it is very late; you must go, my child. If my master perceives that we have not gone to bed he'll want to know the reason; come, it's necessary to part."
"And that adventure which she is going to tell us," said Blanche.
"That will be for tomorrow, if you will permit it," said Urbain.
"Oh, yes, tomorrow. Can she not come tomorrow, dear nurse."