in the most gracious, mischievous way, and said very earnestly,
holding out her hand, which I touched with my lips,

"Monsieur Bonnard, do not refuse to accept a seat in my carriage.
You can chat with me on the way about antiquity, and that will amuse
me ever so much."

"My dear," exclaimed the prince, "you can do just as you please; but
you ought to remember that one is horribly cramped in that carriage
of yours; and I fear that you are only offering Monsieur Bonnard
the chance of getting a frightful attack of lumbago."

Madame Trepof simply shook her head by way of explaining that such
considerations had no weight with her whatever; then she untied her
hat. The darkness of her black curls descended over her eyes, and
bathed them in velvety shadow. She remained a little while quite
motionless, and her face assumed a surprising expression of reverie.
But all of a sudden she darted at some oranges which the tavern-keeper
had brought in a basket, and began to throw them, one by one, into a
fold of her dress.

"These will be nice on the road," she said. "We are going just where
you are going--to Girgenti. I must tell you all about it. you know
that my husband is making a collection of match-boxes. We bought
thirteen hundred match-boxes at Marseilles. But we heard there was
a factory of them at Girgenti. According to what we were told, it
is a very small factory, and its products--which are very ugly--never
go outside the city and its suburbs. So we are going to Girgenti just
to buy match-boxes. Dimitri has been a collector of all sorts of
things; but the only kind of collection which can now interest him