She was informed by the latter on Agatha's quitting the room, as a great secret, that the surgeon had been requested by the Countess to bring a notary with him the next morning from the town where he lived, in order to make her will. "We all guess, Mam'selle (said Floretta), that 'tis on your account she is going to make one."
"Heaven grant (cried Madeline with fervour), that from her own hand alone I may ever receive any mark of her regard."
"Why to be sure, Mam'selle (said Floretta), that might be as pleasant a way as the other; but 'tis a comfort at any rate to be certain of it. One way or other, I am a great advocate for people making their wills; for you must know, Mam'selle, I lost a great deal by an old uncle of mine in Burgundy dying without one. He always promised to leave me every thing he had; but he was always of a shilly-shally disposition: so death whipped him off without his putting his promise into execution, and his property was then divided amongst all his relations. Had
