'
I cared little what she said, and was glad to be rid of her even for a
short time, and was soon fast asleep.
I saw her, I know not how much later, poking about the room, like a figure
in a dream, and taking off her things.
She had her breakfast in bed next morning, and I was, to my comfort, left
to take mine in solitary possession of our sitting-room; where I began to
wonder how little annoyance I had as yet suffered from her company, and
began to speculate upon the chances of my making the journey with tolerable
comfort.
Our hostess gave me five minutes of her valuable time. Her talk ran chiefly
upon nuns and convents, and her old acquaintance with Madame; and it seemed
to me that she had at one time driven a kind of trade, no doubt profitable
enough, in escorting young ladies to establishments on the Continent; and
although I did not then quite understand the tone in which she spoke to me,
I often thought afterwards that Madame had represented me as a young person
destined for the holy vocation of the veil.
When she was gone, I sat listlessly looking out of the window, and saw some
chance equipages drive by, and now and then a fashionable pedestrian; and
wondered if this quiet thoroughfare could really be one of the arteries so
near the heart of the tumultuous capital.
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