This is my dear keeper," she said, touching the woman's shoulder.

Then, to the woman: "Annette, you have heard me speak of this gentleman ?" The woman nodded, and modestly touched Gaston's outstretched hand.
"Monsieur was kind once to my dear Mademoiselle," she said.
Gaston cheerily smiled: "Nothing, nothing, upon my word!" Presently he continued: "Your father, what of him ?" She sighed and shivered a little.
"He died in Auvergne three months after you saw him." "And you ?" He waved a hand towards the menagerie.
"It is a long story," she answered, not meeting his eyes.

"I hated the Romany life.

I became an artist's model; sickened of that,"-- her voice went quickly here, "joined a travelling menagerie, and became what I am.
That in brief." "You have done well," he said admiringly, his face glowing.
"I am a successful dompteuse," she replied.
She then asked him who was his companion in the box.

He told her.
She insisted on sending for Jacques.