The latter occupied the upper floor of a house in a quiet quarter near the fortifications in the north-western part of the town.

A message had been sent to her the night before, and she was on the look-out for her visitors, but she did not recognize them, and she uttered a cry of surprise as Marie and Virginie entered the room.
"Is it you, mademoiselle ?" she exclaimed in great surprise.

"And you, my little angel?
My eyes must be getting old, indeed, that I did not recognize you; but you are finely disguised.

But where is Mademoiselle Jeanne ?" "She will be here in a moment, Louise; she is just behind.

But you must not call me mademoiselle; you must remember that we are your nieces Marie and Jeanne, and that you are our aunt Louise Moulin, whom we have come to stay with." "I shall remember in time," the old woman said.