Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/191

Rh grotesque mingling of carelessness and studied elegance. Her rose-coloured bonnet, adorned with artificial flowers, would have been more in keeping with an evening toilet. Beneath a long cashmere shawl, of which the experienced eye of a woman would have discerned she was not the original owner, was hidden a cheap cotton frock, a little the worse for wear. Finally, only a man would have admired her feet, incased as they were in worn stockings, and felt shoes which bore the marks of long contact with the pavements—you will recall, madam, that asphalt had not yet been invented.

That woman, whose social position you have already divined, approached the chapel still occupied by Madame de Piennes, and regarding her a moment with a troubled and embarrassed air, she accosted her when she saw that she had arisen and was about to depart.

"Can you tell me, madam," she demanded in a low voice, and with a smile of timidity, "can you tell me to whom I should address myself in order to offer a wax taper?"

The language was so strange to the ears of Madame de Piennes that she did not understand at first. She repeated the question to herself. "Yes, I wish very much to offer a wax taper to Saint Roch; but I know not to whom I should give the money."