She accepted the coin and carefully placed it in a purse drawn from somewhere amongst the folds of her voluminous skirts.
"We shall need a candle," Duncombe reminded her.
She lit a lamp, talking all the while.
"Monsieur is very generous," she declared.

"Mademoiselle Flossie is a charming young lady.

No wonder she has many friends.

There was one," she continued, "who came here with her this afternoon--but he left almost at once," she added hastily, aware of her indiscretion.

"Ah, these stairs! They grow steeper for one so corpulent.