well--in a word, she is really wonderful. She has a governess and a maid.
Unfortunately, she is rather short for her age; she is eight."

She was ten, but as Madame Rancour was not speaking to me I refrained
from interrupting her.

My lord Cornelis, who felt very tired, asked at what hour they were to
sup.

"At ten o'clock and not before," said the duenna, "for Madame Cornelis is
always engaged till then. She is always with her lawyer, on account of an
important law-suit she has against Sir Frederick Fermer."

I could see that I should learn nothing worth learning by listening to
the woman's gossip, so I took my hat and cane and went for a walk in the
immense city, taking care not to lose my way.

It was seven o'clock when I went out, and a quarter of an hour after,
seeing a number of people in a coffeehouse, I entered it. It was the most
notorious place in London, the resort of all the rascally Italians in
town. I had heard of it at Lyons, and had taken a firm resolve never to
set foot in it, but almighty chance made me go there unknown to myself.
But it was my only visit.

I sat down by myself and called for a glass of lemonade, and before long
a man came and sat by me to profit by the light. He had a printed paper
in his hand, and I could see that the words were Italian. He had a pencil
with which he scratched out some words and letters, writing the
corrections in the margin. Idle curiosity made me follow him in his work,
and I noticed him correcting the word 'ancora', putting in an 'h' in the