"She has demanded a new lamp; I told you she would!" This
communication was made me by Madame Beaurepas a couple of days later.
"And she has asked for a new tapis de lit, and she has requested me
to provide Celestine with a pair of light shoes. I told her that, as
a general thing, cooks are not shod with satin. That poor
Celestine!"

"Mrs. Church may be exacting," I said, "but she is a clever little
woman."

"A lady who pays but five francs and a half shouldn't be too clever.
C'est deplace. I don't like the type."

"What type do you call Mrs. Church's?"

"Mon Dieu," said Madame Beaurepas, "c'est une de ces mamans comme
vous en avez, qui promenent leur fille."

"She is trying to marry her daughter? I don't think she's of that
sort."

But Madame Beaurepas shrewdly held to her idea. "She is trying it in
her own way; she does it very quietly. She doesn't want an American;
she wants a foreigner. And she wants a mari serieux. But she is
travelling over Europe in search of one. She would like a
magistrate."

"A magistrate?"