Suzette was a bad model. She _posed_ twice, but changed her position, and yawned, and said it was ridiculous. He had never made more than a crayon portrait of her. He found, too, that five hundred francs a month barely sufficed to keep them, and once, in the interval of a remittance, they were in danger of hunger. Yet Suzette plied her needle bravely, and was never so proud as when she had spread the dinner she had earned. In acknowledgment of this fidelity Ralph took her to a grand _magasin_, where they examined the goods gravely, as married folks do, consulting each other, and trying to seem very sage and anxious.
There probably was never such a bonnet as Suzette's in the world. It was black, and full of white roses, and floating a defiant ostrich-plume, and tied with broad red ribbons, whereby she could be recognized from one end of the Luxembourg gardens to the other.
The paletot was clever in like manner; she made the dress herself, and its fit was perfection, showing her plump little figure all the plumper, while its black color set off the whiteness of her simple collar, and with those magic gaiters, Ralph's gift also, he used to sit in the big chair, peering at her, and in a quandary as to whether he had ever been so happy before, or ever so disquieted.
"Now, my little woman," said Ralph, "I have redeemed my promises; you have a chamber, and garments, and subsistence--more than any of your friends--and I am with you always; few wives live so pleasantly; but there is one thing which you must do."
Suzette, sitting upon his knee, protested that he could not command any impossible thing which she would not undertake.
"You must work a little; we are both idle, and if we continue so, may have _ennui_ and may quarrel. After three days I will not pay for your breakfasts, and every day in which you do not breakfast with me, paying for yourself, I will give you no dinner. Remember it, Suzette, for I am in earnest."
Her color fell a little at this, for she had no love for the needle. It was merrier in the _boutique_ to chat with customers, yet she started fairly, and for a week earned a franc a day. The eighth day came; she had no money. Ralph put on his hat and went down the _Rue L'École de Médecin_ without her; but his breakfast was unpalatable, indigestible. Five o'clock came round; she was sitting at the window, perturbedly waiting to see how he would act.