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 CHAPTER VIII

AN OLD LADY AND A LIMP

Nearly a week passed, with the utmost constraint, upon the little family in the Rue de l'Echelle, except Fifi. Nothing could equal the airy insouciance of that young woman. She was no more the dumb, docile creature whose soul and spirit seemed frozen, whose will was benumbed, but Mademoiselle Fifi of the Imperial Theater. Fifi delighted in acting—and she was now acting in her own drama, and with the most exquisite enjoyment of the situation.

At intervals, during the week, Italians with monkeys appeared; but Angéline adopted with these gentry a simple, but effective, method of her own, which was secretly approved by Fifi. This was to appear suddenly on the scene with a kettle of boiling water, which she threatened to distribute impartially upon the monkeys and their owners. This never failed to stampede the enemy. Fifi scolded and complained bitterly of this, but Angéline took