"Le Monsieur de la Petite Dame"

'Le Monsieur de la Petite Dame' is a short story set in France, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The story begins with a conversation between a gentleman and an old high society lady about a seemingly ill-matched couple—a pair of American, with the wife described as a "a little creature, with childishly large eyes, a low, white forehead, reddish-brown hair, and Greek nose and mouth," and the husband being "small of figure, insignificant, and wore a patient sphynx-like air of gravity". The author of this novel is best known for the three children's novels 'Little Lord Fauntleroy', 'A Little Princess', and 'The Secret Garden'.