Madame Rabourdin forgot nothing.

She went herself to the stable where she hired carriages, and chose a coupe that was neither old, nor bourgeois, nor showy.

Her footman, like the footmen of great houses, had the dress and appearance of a master.

About ten on the evening of the eventful Tuesday, she left home in a charming full mourning attire.

Her hair was dressed with jet grapes of exquisite workmanship,--an ornament costing three thousand francs, made by Fossin for an Englishwoman who had left Paris before it was finished.