"What do you mean?"

"I mean it is well my mother is ill, and doesn't wish to eat, for there
would be nothing for her, if she did."

"Good heavens! And you?"

"I have had nothing to eat since yesterday morning, and then only a
biscuit with a glass of water."

"My poor girl, we won't say anything more about chaperons. Come along
with me to Ciro's this instant, to lunch, and tell me everything."

He was completely won over now, and looked very handsome, with a slight
flush on his brown face, and his dark eyes bright with excitement.

The girl lowered her long lashes, perhaps to hide tears.

When she did this, and drooped the corners of her mouth, she was very
engaging, and the young man tingled all over with pity. That poor,
pretty creature, starving, in her charming pink dress and hat of roses.
How strange life was! It was something to be thankful for that he had
met her.

A little while ago, he had walked through the Galerie Charles Trois,
thinking how delightful the tables looked at Ciro's, and making up his
mind to return there for lunch. But afterwards, on the terrace, he had
been so miserable that he would probably have forgotten all about his
plan, if it had not been for the girl.