Monsieur, in person, heralded the fact to me; terminating his communication by an obliging expression of his desire that I should continue, as heretofore, his ablest assistant and most trusted friend; and a proposition to raise my salary by an additional two hundred francs per annum.

I thanked him, gave no conclusive answer at the time, and, when he had left me, threw off my blouse, put on my coat, and set out on a long walk outside the Porte de Flandre, in order, as I thought, to cool my blood, calm my nerves, and shake my disarranged ideas into some order.

In fact, I had just received what was virtually my dismissal.
I could not conceal, I did not desire to conceal from myself the conviction that, being now certain that Mdlle.

Reuter was destined to become Madame Pelet it would not do for me to remain a dependent dweller in the house which was soon to be hers.

Her present demeanour towards me was deficient neither in dignity nor propriety; but I knew her former feeling was unchanged.