men were dead, and the females were grandmothers with English
names, and were almost ignorant of any such persons as the de la
Rocheaimards. From these Adrienne had nothing to expect. To her,
they were as beings in another planet. But the trousseau was nearly
exhausted, and the stock of ready money was reduced to a single
napoleon, and a little change. It was absolutely necessary to decide on
some new scheme for a temporary subsistence, and that without delay.

Among the valuables of the trousseau was a piece of exquisite lace, that
had never been even worn. The vicomtesse had a pride in looking at it,
for it showed the traces of her former wealth and magnificence, and she
would never consent to part with it. Adrienne had carried it once to her
employer, the milliner, with the intention of disposing of it, but the price
offered was so greatly below what she knew to be the true value, that
she would not sell it. Her own wardrobe, however, was going fast,
nothing disposable remained of her grandmother's, and this piece of lace
must be turned to account in some way. While reflecting on these dire
necessities, Adrienne remembered our family. She knew to what shop
we had been sent in Paris, and she now determined to purchase one of
us, to bestow on the handkerchief selected some of her own beautiful
needle work, to trim it with this lace, and, by the sale, to raise a sum
sufficient for all her grandmother's earthly wants.

Generous souls are usually ardent. Their hopes keep pace with their
wishes, and, as Adrienne had heard that twenty napoleons were
sometimes paid by the wealthy for a single pocket-handkerchief, when
thus decorated, she saw a little treasure in reserve, before her mind's
eye.

"I can do the work in two months," she said to herself, "by taking the