But the girl appeared now to comprehend. She was not embarrassed.
"In brief," she explained, "for my time."
"You pay her," Muriel grudgingly translated, "for her time. But," she concluded, "I wouldn't pay her much, Jim."
"So that's it!" chuckled Stainton. "Oh, well, I don't want to seem stingy after all this discussion of it."
He handed her a ten-franc louis.
The girl's eyes caught the unexpected glint of gold.
"Oh, la-la-la!" she gurgled, and, with what seemed one movement, she pocketed the money; drank to Jim's health; flung her arms about him with a sounding kiss on his mouth, and ran giggling through the folding-doors.
Stainton, tingling with a strange excitement and looking decidedly foolish, gazed at his wife.
"What do you think of that?" he choked.
Muriel stood before him trembling, her black eyes ablaze.