But the nearer she got, the slower she walked.  What was she going to say, and what reply would she get?

She looked at the numbers of the houses; there were still twenty-eight.  That was all right, so she had time to consider, and she walked slower and slower.  Suddenly she saw a door on which was a large brass plate with “La Maternelle Fire Assurance Office” engraved on it.  Already!  She waited a moment, for she felt nervous and almost ashamed; then she walked past, came back, walked past again, and came back again.

At last she said to herself: 

“I must go in, however, so I may as well do it sooner as later.”

She could not help noticing, however, how her heart beat as she entered.  She went into an enormous room with grated doors all round it, and above them little openings at which a man’s head appeared, and as a gentleman carrying a number of papers passed her, she stopped him and said timidly:  “I beg your pardon, monsieur, but can you tell me where I must apply for payment for anything that has been accidentally burned?”

He replied in a sonorous voice: 

“The first door on the left; that is the department you want.”

This frightened her still more, and she felt inclined to run away, to put in no claim, to sacrifice her eighteen francs.  But the idea of that sum revived her courage, and she went upstairs, out of breath, stopping at almost every other step.

She knocked at a door which she saw on the first landing, and a clear voice said, in answer: 

“Come in!”

She obeyed mechanically, and found herself in a large room where three solemn gentlemen, all with a decoration in their buttonholes, were standing talking.

One of them asked her:  “What do you want, madame?”

She could hardly get out her words, but stammered:  “I have come—­I have come on account of an accident, something—­“.

He very politely pointed out a seat to her,

“If you will kindly sit down I will attend to you in a moment.”

And, returning to the other two, he went on with the conversation.

“The company, gentlemen, does not consider that it is under any obligation to you for more than four hundred thousand francs, and we can pay no attention to your claim to the further sum of a hundred thousand, which you wish to make us pay.  Besides that, the surveyor’s valuation—­”

One of the others interrupted him: 

“That is quite enough, monsieur; the law courts will decide between us, and we have nothing further to do than to take our leave.”  And they went out after mutual ceremonious bows.

Oh! if she could only have gone away with them, how gladly she would have done it; she would have run away and given up everything.  But it was too late, for the gentleman came back, and said, bowing: 

“What can I do for you, madame?”

She could scarcely speak, but at last she managed to say: