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patroness. A shopkeeper once observed, 'It is a red-letter day when Madame Des Grieux stops before our windows, for she not only attracts the gentlemen's attention, but also that of the ladies, who often buy what has caught her artistic eye.'
"She had, besides, that excellent thing in woman:—
'Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle and low;'
for I think I could get accustomed to a plain-featured wife, but not to one whose voice is shrill, harsh, and piercing."
"They say that you looked very much like her."
"Do they? Anyhow, I hope that you do not wish me to praise my mother like Lamartine did, and then to add modestly, 'I am after her own image.'"
"But how is it that having become a widow so young, she did not marry again? Rich and handsome as she was, she must have had as many suitors as Penelope herself."
"Some day or other I will tell you her life,
