But this weakness did not
last long. Should she lose her energy? Should her will fail her
at the decisive moment? "No, a thousand times no!" she said to
herself again and again. "I will die if needs be, but I will die
fighting!" And the nearer she approached the Rue Pigalle, the more
energetically she drove away her apprehension, and sought for an
excuse calculated to satisfy any one who might have noticed her
long absence.
An unnecessary precaution. She found the house as when she left
it, abandoned to the mercy of the servants--the strangers sent the
evening before from the employment office. Important matters
still kept the General and his wife from home. The husband had to
show his horses; and the wife was intent upon shopping. As for
Madame Leon, most of her time seemed to be taken up by the family
of relatives she had so suddenly discovered. Alone, free from all
espionage, and wishing to ward off despondency by occupation,
Mademoiselle Marguerite was just beginning a letter to her friend
the old magistrate, when a servant entered and announced that her
dressmaker was there and wished to speak with her. "Let her come
in," replied Marguerite, with unusual vivacity. "Let her come in
at once."
A lady who looked some forty years of age, plainly dressed, but of
distinguished appearance, was thereupon ushered into the room.
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