For long he stood absorbed in thought, then he turned and looked frankly into her face.
"Madame," he said, softly, "it is a place of miracle.

It is here that I shall live." She smiled.

She had served an apprenticeship in the reading of the artist's heart--the child's heart.
"Yes, monsieur?
You will live here ?" "As soon, madame, as it suits you to vacate the _appartement_." Again she smiled, gently, indulgently.

"And may I ask, monsieur, whether you have ascertained the figure of the rent ?" "No, madame." "And is not that--pardon me!--a little improvident ?" Max laughed.

"Probably, madame! But if it demanded my last franc I would give that last franc with an open heart, so greatly do I desire the place." The quiet eyes of the woman softened to a gentle comprehension.
"You are an artist, monsieur." The color leaped into the boy's face, his eyes flashed with triumph.
"Madame, how did you guess ?" "It is no guessing, monsieur.