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 box hired from the bank. Fifi herself carried the tin box under her cloak, and, accompanied by Madame Bourcet and Louis, went to another apartment in the bank, from which they were taken to the strong room in the basement. There Fifi solemnly handed over her tin box to be tied and sealed, and accepted a receipt for it; and it was put away securely in a little dungeon of its own.

Never was a parcel of old shoes treated with greater respect, for in it reposed the contents of Fifi's reticule, while in the reticule peacefully lay a hundred thousand francs. It had been done under the noses of Madame Bourcet and Louis—and with the utmost neatness—for Fifi was accustomed to acting, and was in no way discomposed by having people about her, but was rather steadied and emboldened.

On the return home in the carriage Louis Bourcet treated her with such distinguished consideration that he was really afraid his attentions, including the numerous games of cribbage, were compromising, but Fifi noted him not. Her mind was fixed on the contents of her reticule, and the superior satisfaction it is to have one's money safe in a mattress where one can get at it, instead of