Mademoiselle stood aghast, rooted to the spot ; scandalised ; in
a mute amazement. At length- her voice came back to her, but
it was hollow and shook as she cried sarcastically :

" Very pretty indeed ! Quite an act in a drama. No ! Ne
vous donnez pas la peine, monsieur," to H. C. " Babette, I am
ashamed of you. Your father-confessor shall hear of this, and
you shall do penance through the town in a white sheet, and fast
for six months. Unclasp those hands, insolente ! and get you
to your room."

But the grasp only tightened as Babette hysterically
murmured : " Oh ! save me from that dreadful hole ! "

When the rescue was at last effected, and Babette flew down
to the kitchen with surprising agility in one who a moment
ago was so near swooning, H. C. emerged from the field of battle
with disordered hair and flushed face. But Mademoiselle
Charlotte was wise, and now that the offending Babette had
disappeared, laughingly passed off the iacident and turned from
the modern to the antiquarian interests of her house.
H. C. recovered his balance by magic, and even his hair got



A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY BUILDING. 247

back to its ordinary condition. It was all extremely cap-
tivating.
