But when I am alone it is not worth while to take so much trouble.

An egg, five sous' worth of ham and brawn, and a roll--that suffices me when I am alone! But if you will accept the little room--ah, then I will put on an apron and go into the kitchen, and you shall taste the French cookery of a Frenchwoman!' Angela was not listening to all this, for she was too much touched by the generous intention to hear half of what Madame Bernard said, and she could only press the little governess's hand again while she tried to edge in a word of thanks between the quick sentences.
'And as for the rest,' Madame Bernard ran on, 'I have chaperoned half the young girls in Roman society to concerts and to the dentist's, and I have a nice little sitting-room, and there is no reason in the world why Count Severi should not come to see us, until you can be married!' This, at least, did not escape Angela, who squeezed the small plump hand very hard, and at last succeeded in speaking herself.
'You are too good!' she cried.

'Too kind! If it turns out to be true, if I am really to be a beggar, I would rather beg of you than of distant cousins and people I know! Besides, they are all so afraid of my aunt's tongue that not one of them would dare to take me in, even for a week! But I will not come unless you will let me work to help you, in some way--I do not know how--is there nothing I know well enough to teach ?' 'Oh, la, la!' cried Madame Bernard.

'Will you please not say such things, my dear! As if it were not the greatest happiness in the world you will be giving me, a lonely old woman, to come and live with me, and help me take care of the parrot and water the flowers in the window every evening at sunset, and learn how to make a "navarin!" Work?
Oh yes! You shall work, my dear child! If you think it is easy to please a parrot, try it! I only say that!' 'I will do my best,' Angela said, smiling.

'To-morrow, at this hour, we shall know what is to happen.' 'What has happened, has happened,' said Madame Bernard, as calmly as any Hindu, though she was not a fatalist.