"Here is the paper, madame," said Lizida, eyeing her mistress's cap, which she coveted; "I inquired about the Mouzaias; hasn't madame some Mouzaia stocks?"
"Yes, I have twenty shares; my last hope is in that."
"What are the Mouzaias, madame? a sugar factory?"
"Alas! no, it isn't sugar. I believe it's a copper mine in Algeria; I don't know exactly, but it doesn't make any difference; a friend of mine doubled her money six months ago by buying shares in it; and I hope to double mine; but thus far I haven't had any luck.--Do you think my cap is becoming, Lizida?"
"Mon Dieu, madame, it's strange--but if you want my opinion----"
"Well! madame, who is always so pretty--I don't know how it is, but with that cap madame has a stern, serious look."
"Say at once that it makes me older, for that is what you don't dare to say."
"Oh! it isn't that; madame can't look old; that is impossible; but madame has a less animated, less coquettish air--that's it, less coquettish."
Madame de Grangeville snatched off her cap and threw it on a chair, crying:
"You are quite right, Lizida; this cap certainly does make me a frightful object."
"Oh! frightful! As if madame could be frightful when--when she is so pretty!"
"Hush, child; take the cap; I give it to you, it's yours, do what you choose with it."
"Madame is too good; but I wouldn't want madame to think----"
"I tell you to take that cap, I never want to hear of it again. Go and get me the little blue one that I wore before I bought that one."
Mademoiselle Lizida ran from the room to fetch the cap which her mistress asked for, and handed it to her; then she made haste to take to her own room the cap for which the baroness had paid thirty-five francs and which she had worn but three times, saying to herself:
"I knew very well that I should get it! Oh! it is a perfect beauty! It makes me look like an angel, and I will wear it on Sunday to go to the Château des Fleurs to dance.--How lovely it is!"
Then she returned to her mistress, who had put on the blue cap, and cried:
"Oh! how lovely madame is in that! madame is only twenty-five years old,--not a day more. Ah! if I was a man, how madly in love I should be with madame!"
"Hush, you mad girl! It's a fact that this cap is very becoming to me."