**Exhibit 10.66**SEVERANCE AGREEMENT     This Severance Agreement (the “Agreement”) is made as of the Executive’s employmentcommencement date, between The Talbots, Inc., a Delaware corporation (together with itssubsidiaries, the “Company”) and Paula Bennett (the “Executive”). This Agreement sets forth theagreement of the parties relating to the severance arrangements for the Executive under certaincircumstances. Capitalized terms used in this Agreement are defined in Section 7 hereof.     1. Severance Pay and Associated Benefits Upon a Qualified Termination.          (a) Severance Benefits. In the event of a Qualified Termination, and subject to theterms of this Agreement, the Company will provide to the Executive the payments and benefitsdescribed in this Section 1 (collectively, the “Severance Benefits”).          (b) Severance Pay. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, in the event of aQualified Termination, the Company will pay to the Executive severance pay in the gross amountequal to 1.5 times the Executive’s annual base salary in effect immediately prior to suchtermination (the “Severance Payment”), payable in equal installments in accordance with normalCompany payroll practices over a 18 month period beginning immediately following the TerminationDate (the “Severance Period”).          (c) Benefits Continuation. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, upon any suchQualified Termination, the Company will also arrange for the Executive to continue to participate(through COBRA or otherwise), on substantially the same terms and conditions as in effect for theExecutive (including any required employee contribution) immediately prior to such termination, inthe medical and dental programs provided to the Executive immediately prior to such terminationuntil the earlier of (i) the end of the Severance Period, or (ii) such time as the Executive iseligible to be covered by comparable benefits of a subsequent employer. The Executive agrees tonotify the Company promptly if and when the Executive begins employment with another employer andif and when the Executive becomes eligible to participate in any benefit or other welfare plans,programs or arrangements of another employer. Executive agrees that any automobile/housingallowance or other personal benefits provided by the Company to the Executive immediately prior tosuch termination will cease as of the Termination Date. The Company, however, may choose to makeany separate arrangements with the Executive to assist with the transfer of any such benefitswithin 90 days of the Termination Date.          (d) Retirement Benefits. Nothing in this Agreement will modify or otherwise limit anyof the Executive’s rights and benefits as may exist under the terms of any qualified, nonqualifiedor supplemental retirement, 401(k), savings or deferred compensation plans of the Company(excluding any severance or severance compensation plans) (“Retirement Plans”), nor will anybenefits or amounts payable under any such Retirement Plans reduce or offset any Severance Benefitsafforded to the Executive under this Agreement.
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          (e) Equity Awards.               (i) If in the event of a Qualified Termination the Executive still holds one or more optionsto purchase shares of Company stock which have not expired and have not been fully exercised, theExecutive (or his or her heirs or estate), at any time within 3 years after the Termination Date(but in no event after the option has expired), may exercise any such options with respect to anyshares as to which the Executive could have exercised the options on the Termination Date.               (ii) The Executive agrees that until the expiration of 6 months from the Termination Date, theExecutive will not engage in the purchase or sale of the Company’s common stock (including withoutlimitation any “cashless exercise” of any stock options involving the sale of any Company commonstock as part of such option exercise) during any trading window “blackout” or “quiet period”applicable to management level employees (“Quiet Period”); provided that in no event shall theExecutive be prohibited from making a purchase or sale of the Company’s stock or exercising stockoptions for the Company’s stock if such sale, purchase or exercise is made pursuant to a writtenplan for trading securities within the meaning of Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of1934, as amended (a “10b5-1 Trading Plan”), and such 10b5-1 Trading Plan is consistent with theCompany’s insider trading policy and has been approved by the Company. The Executive acknowledgesthat the Company reserves the right to modify the Quiet Period from time to time in its sole andabsolute discretion. The Company will provide the Executive with notice of Quiet Periods andchanges thereto at the time it provides such notice to the Company’s management level employees.In addition, the Executive agrees to notify the Company’s General Counsel prior to exercising anyoptions or trading in the Company’s common stock within such 6 month period following theTermination Date to ascertain whether such transaction would violate any Quiet Period covered bythis subsection (e)(ii).               (iii) Except as otherwise expressly set forth in any agreement between the Executive and theCompany relating to any restricted stock or performance accelerated restricted stock award, in theevent of a Qualified Termination or other termination of employment, the Executive agrees that theCompany will be deemed to have exercised its repurchase option with respect to any shares ofunvested restricted stock or performance accelerated restricted stock of the Company held by theExecutive as of the Termination Date, and the Company will promptly pay the Executive $.01 for eachshare.          (f) Withholdings. The Company may deduct from the Executive’s Severance Payment andany other payments otherwise due to the Executive, such withholding taxes and similar governmentalpayments and charges as may be required.          (g) Timing for Payment; Section 409A Restrictions. Notwithstanding anything in thisAgreement to the contrary, it is the intention of the parties that this Agreement comply withSection 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and any regulations orother guidance issued thereunder, and this Agreement and the payments of any benefits hereunderwill be operated and administered accordingly. Specifically, but not by limitation, the Executiveagrees that if, at the time of termination of employment, the Company is considered to be publiclytraded and the Executive is considered to be a specified employee, as
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defined in Section 409A (and as determined as of December 31 preceding the Executive’stermination of employment, unless the Executive’s termination of employment occurs prior to April30, in which case the determination will be made as of the second preceding December 31), then someor all of such payments to be made under this Agreement as a result of the Executive’s terminationof employment will be deferred for no more than 6 months following such termination of employment,if and to the extent the delay in such payments is necessary in order to comply with therequirements of Section 409A of the Code after utilizing the short-term deferral and involuntaryseparation pay plan regulations. Upon expiration of such 6 month period (or, if earlier, theExecutive’s death), any payments so withheld hereunder from the Executive hereunder will bedistributed to the Executive, with a payment of interest thereon credited at a rate of prime plus1% (with such prime rate to be determined as of the actual payment date).     2. Release and Waiver.     The Company’s obligation to make the payments and provide the benefits to the Executive as setforth in Section 1 above will be conditioned upon and subject to the Executive having delivered tothe Company an executed full and unconditional release (that is not subject to revocation) of anyand all claims against the Company, its parent entities, affiliates, employee benefit plans andfiduciaries (to the extent permissible under ERISA), and their respective officers, employees,directors, agents and representatives satisfactory in form and content to the Company’s counsel.     3. Cooperation.     In connection with a Qualified Termination or any other termination of the Executive’semployment, the Executive agrees to reasonably cooperate with the Company prior to and in the 60day period immediately following the Termination Date, subject to the Executive’s othercommitments, in promptly transitioning the Executive’s duties and activities within the Company tothe person or persons designated by the Company to receive them.     4. Nondisparagement; Non-Solicitation; Confidentiality.          (a) Nondisparagement. In connection with a Qualified Termination or any othertermination of the Executive’s employment, Executive agrees not to take action or make anystatement, written or oral, in the 1 year period following the Termination Date which is intendedto materially disparage the Company or its business.          (b) Non-Solicitation. The Executive agrees that, during the 1 year period following aQualified Termination or any other termination of the Executive’s employment, the Executive willnot directly or indirectly solicit, attempt to hire, or hire any employee of the Company (or anyperson who may have been employed by the Company during the last year of the term of theExecutive’s employment with the Company), or actively assist in such hiring by any other person orbusiness entity or encourage, induce or attempt to induce any such employee to terminate his or heremployment with the Company.          (c) Confidentiality. The Executive will not in any manner following a QualifiedTermination or any other termination of the Executive’s employment, directly or indirectly, withoutthe express prior written consent of the Company, disclose or use any
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Confidential Information of the Company. “Confidential Information” will include allinformation concerning the Company or any parent, subsidiary, affiliate, employee, customer orsupplier or other business associate of the Company or any affiliate (including but not limited toany trade secrets or other confidential, proprietary or private matters), which has been or isreceived by the Executive from the Company, or from any parent, subsidiary, affiliate or customeror supplier or other business associate of the Company, and which is not known or generallyavailable to the public.     5. Remedies.     The Executive acknowledges and affirms that money damages cannot adequately compensate theCompany for any breach by the Executive of Section 4 of this Agreement and that the Company isentitled to seek equitable relief (without posting any bond) in any federal or state court inMassachusetts or other court of competent jurisdiction to prevent or otherwise restrain any actualor threatened breach of the provisions of said Section and/or compel specific performance of, orother compliance with, the terms thereof.     6. Miscellaneous.          (a) At-Will Employment. This Agreement is not a contract to employ the Executive fora definite time period, and is not intended to be and does not constitute a contract or part of acontractual agreement for continued employment, either express or implied, between the Company andthe Executive, it being acknowledged that the Executive’s employment is “at will” and that eitherthe Executive or the Company may terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any or noreason, with or without Cause and with or without prior notice, but subject to the Executive’srights to Severance Benefits under the terms provided hereunder.          (b) Successors and Assigns. This Agreement and all of the provisions hereof shall bebinding upon, and inure to the benefit of, the parties hereto and their successors (includingsuccessors by merger, consolidation, sale or similar transaction, permitted assigns, executors,administrators, personal representatives, heirs and distributees). This Agreement is personal innature and the rights and obligations of the Executive under this Agreement shall not be assignedor transferred by the Executive.          (c) Attorneys Fees. Each party shall bear his or her or its own attorney’s fees andexpenses.          (d) Governing Law. This Agreement shall be interpreted in accordance with thesubstantive laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and without regard to any conflict of lawsprovisions.          (e) Effect on Other Agreements; Modification. This Agreement constitutes the entireagreement between the Executive and the Company with respect to the subject matter of thisAgreement. This Agreement may be modified only in a writing signed by both parties. For as longas this Agreement is in effect, to the degree there is any conflict between the severance paymentsand benefit provisions to which the Executive is then entitled under this Agreement and those ofany other written agreement which continues to be in effect between the Company and the Executive,such conflict shall be resolved by the Company in good faith by
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affording the Executive the more favorable severance payments or benefits contained in anysuch agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing herein relieves the Executive from theobligation to comply with the restrictive covenants of all such agreements or from the consequencesof noncompliance therewith regardless under which agreement the severance payments and/or severancebenefits may be deemed to have been made. Furthermore, for purposes of clarification only, if anExecutive receives severance pay and benefits under one agreement, the Executive shall not beentitled to severance pay or benefits under any other agreement, plan or arrangement.          (f) Execution. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each ofwhich when so executed shall be deemed to be an original, and all such counterparts together shallconstitute but one and the same instrument.          (g) Notices. For the purpose of this Agreement, notices and all other communicationsprovided for in this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given whendelivered or when mailed by United States registered mail, return receipt requested, postageprepaid, addressed to the respective addresses set forth below, or to such other address as eitherparty may have furnished to the other in writing in accordance herewith, except that notice ofchange of address shall be effective only upon actual receipt:          To the Company:          The Talbots, Inc.