"No, I will wait here. Stop a minute," said I, giving her six francs, "go
and get me some coffee; I will drink it in the shop."

"I might go and get you some coffee, but I am not so silly as to leave
you in the shop by yourself."

"You are afraid I might steal something!"

"Well, one does hear of such things being done, and I don't know you from
Adam."

"Very good; but I shall stay here all the same."

Before long Baret came down and scolded the poor girl for not having told
him of my presence. "Go and tell my wife to come," said he, as he began
opening packets of stockings for me to choose from. He kept stockings,
vests, and silk drawers, and I turned one packet over after another,
looking at them all and not fixing on anything till I saw his wife coming
down as fresh as a rose and as bright as a lily. She smiled at me in the
most seductive manner, apologized for the disorder of her dress, and
thanked me for keeping my word.

"I never break my word," I said, "especially when such a charming lady is
concerned!"

Madame Baret was seventeen, of a moderate height, and an exquisite
figure; without being classically beautiful, a Raphael could not wish to
depict a more enticing face. Her eyes were large and brilliant. Her
drooping eyelids, which gave her so modest and yet so voluptuous an