dinner in the kitchen, and Madame Beauvisage was certain of not being
overheard, she thought it advisable to give Cecile a little lecture.

"My daughter," she said, "behave this evening with propriety, like a
well-bred girl; and from this day forth be more sedate. Do not chatter
heedlessly, and never walk alone with Monsieur Giguet, or Monsieur
Olivier Vinet, or the sub-prefect, or Monsieur Martener,--in fact,
with any one, not even Achille Pigoult. You will not marry any of the
young men of Arcis, or of the department. Your fate is to shine in
Paris. Therefore I shall now give you charming dresses, to accustom
you to elegance. We can easily find out where the Princesse de
Cadignan and the Marquise de Cinq-Cygne get their things. I mean that
you shall cease to look provincial. You must practise the piano for
three hours every day. I shall send for Monsieur Moise from Troyes
until I know what master I ought to get from Paris. Your talents must
all be developed, for you have only one year more of girlhood before
you. Now I have warned you, and I shall see how you behave this
evening. You must manage to keep Simon at a distance, but without
coquetting with him."

"Don't be uneasy, mamma; I intend to adore the _stranger_."

These words, which made Madame Beauvisage laugh, need some
explanation.

"Ha! I haven't seen him yet," said Phileas, "but everybody is talking
about him. When I want to know who he is, I shall send the corporal or
Monsieur Groslier to ask him for his passport."

There is no little town in France where, at a given time, the drama or