'I want to know if love is a disease.'" "Did she really say that ?" "If I could remember her exact words I would tell you a great deal more," replied Olympe; "she appears to know much more than I do." "Do you think, my dear, that she could take your place in my service.

I can't do without an Olympe," said the countess, smiling in a rather sad way.
"Not yet, madame,--she is too young; but in two years' time, yes.

If it becomes necessary that she should go away from here I will let you know.

She ought to be educated, and she knows nothing of the world.
Her grandfather, Pere Niseron, is a man who would let his throat be cut sooner than tell a lie; he would die of hunger in a baker's shop; he has the strength of his opinions, and the girl was brought up to all such principles.

La Pechina would consider herself your equal; for the old man has made her, as he says, a republican,--just as Pere Fourchon has made Mouche a bohemian.