When Noel entered, a woman, still young, was reclining on the divan, smoking a cigarette.  In spite of the tropical heat, she was enveloped in heavy Cashmere shawls.  She was small, but then only small women can unite in their persons every perfection.  Women who are above the medium height must be either essays, or errors of nature.  No matter how lovely they may look, they invariably present some defect, like the work of a statuary, who, though possessed of genius, attempts for the first time sculpture on a grand scale.  She was small, but her neck, her shoulders, and her arms had the most exquisite contours.  Her hands with their tapering fingers and rosy nails looked like jewels preciously cared for.  Her feet, encased in silken stockings almost as thin as a spider’s-web, were a marvel; not that they recalled the very fabulous foot which Cinderella thrust into the glass slipper; but the other, very real, very celebrated and very palpable foot, of which the fair owner (the lovely wife of a well-known banker) used to present the model either in bronze or in marble to her numerous admirers.  Her face was, not beautiful, nor even pretty; but her features were such as one seldom forgets; for, at the first glance, they startled the beholder like a flash of lightning.  Her forehead was a little high, and her mouth unmistakably large, notwithstanding the provoking freshness of her lips.  Her eyebrows were so perfect they seem to have been drawn with India ink; but, unhappily the pencil had been used too heavily; and they gave her an unpleasant expression when she frowned.  On the other hand, her smooth complexion had a rich golden pallor; and her black and velvety eyes possessed enormous magnetic power.  Her teeth were of a pearly brilliancy and whiteness, and her hair, of prodigious opulence, was black and fine, and glossy as a raven’s wing.

On perceiving Noel, as he pushed aside the silken hangings, she half arose and leaned upon her elbow.  “So you have come at last?” she observed in a tone of vexation; “you are very kind.”

The advocate felt almost suffocated by the oppressive temperature of the room.  “How warm it is!” said he; “it is enough to stifle one!”

“Do you find it so?” replied the young woman.  “Well, I am actually shivering!  It is true though, that I am very unwell.  Waiting is unbearable to me, it acts upon my nerves; and I have been waiting for you ever since yesterday.”

“It was quite impossible for me to come,” explained Noel, “quite impossible!”

“You knew, however,” continued the lady, “that to-day was my settling day; and that I had several heavy accounts to settle.  The tradesmen all came, and I had not a half-penny to give them.  The coachmaker sent his bill, but there was no money.  Then that old rascal Clergot, to whom I had given an acceptance for three thousand francs, came and kicked up a frightful row.  How pleasant all this is!”

Noel bowed his head like a schoolboy rebuked for having neglected his lessons.  “It is but one day behind,” he murmured.