"if you would give this copy a few touches; for then I could carry
away with me something to remind me of you."

"Willingly," said Ginevra, painting a few strokes on the picture. "But
I thought it was a long way from your home to the studio, and it is
late."

"Oh! Ginevra, I am going away, never to return," cried the poor girl,
sadly.

"You mean to leave Monsieur Servin!" exclaimed Ginevra, less affected,
however, by this news than she would have been a month earlier.

"Haven't you noticed, Ginevra, that for some days past you and I have
been alone in the studio?"

"True," said Ginevra, as if struck by a sudden recollection. "Are all
those young ladies ill, or going to be married, or are their fathers
on duty at court?"

"They have left Monsieur Servin," replied Laure.

"Why?"

"On your account, Ginevra."

"My account!" repeated the Corsican, springing up, with a threatening
brow and her eyes flashing.

"Oh! don't be angry, my kind Ginevra," cried Laure, in deep distress.