firm, even step into the hall, and the closing of the _salon_ door.
"Encore un beau monsieur pour mademoiselle," announced the housekeeper,
and handed in a card inscribed with the name of "Mr. Cecil Burleigh,"
and a letter of introduction from Mr. Fairfax.

Bessie's heart went pit-a-pat while madame read the letter, and Harry
feared that he would probably have to find his way to the Tapestry
without a guide. Madame's countenance was inscrutable, but she said to
Bessie, "Calme-toi, mon enfant," and finished her meal with extreme
deliberation. Then with a perfect politeness, and an utter oblivion of
the little arrangement for a walk to the library that Harry and Bessie
had made, she gave him his _congé_ in the form of a hope that he would
never fail to visit her when he found himself at Caen or Bayeux. Harry
accepted it with a ready apprehension of the necessity for his
dismissal, and without alluding to the Tapestry made his respectful
acknowledgments to madame and the canon preparatory to bidding Bessie
farewell.

Under the awning over the _perron_ they said their good-byes. Bessie,
frank-hearted girl, was disappointed even to the glittering of tears.
"It has been very pleasant. I am so happy you came!" whispered she with
a tremor.

"God bless you, dear little Bessie! Give me this for a keepsake," said
Harry, and took a white, half-blown rose which she wore in the bosom of
her pretty dress of lilac _percale_. She let him have it. Then they
stood for a minute face to face and hand in hand, but the delicate
perplexities of Babette, spying through her glass door, were not
increased by a kiss at parting. And the young man seemed to rush away at
last in sudden haste.