ne dinners at restaurants, gay excursions to Joinville-le-Pont, and
masked balls at Montparnasse or the Elysee Montmartre. Ah! experience
is quickly gained in these work-shops. Sometimes those who went off at
night with ragged dresses and worn-out shoes, returned the next morning
in superb toilettes to say that they resigned their situations, as they
were not made for work, and intended to live like ladies. They departed
radiant, but often before a month was over they came back, emaciated,
hollow-eyed, and despairing, and humbly begged for a little work."

She paused, so crushed by the weight of these sad memories as to lose
consciousness of the present. And the judge also remained silent, not
daring to question her. And, besides, what good would it do? What could
she tell him about these poor little apprentices that he did not know
already? If he was surprised at anything, it was that this beautiful
young girl, who had been left alone and defenceless, had possessed
sufficient strength of character to escape the horrible dangers that
threatened her.

However, it was not long before Mademoiselle Marguerite shook off the
torpor which had stolen over her. "I ought not to boast of my strength,
sir," she resumed. "Besides my pride, I had a hope to sustain me--a hope
which I clung to with the tenacity of despair. I wished to become expert
at my profession, for I had learned that skilled workers were always in
demand, and could always command good wages. So when my household duties
were over, I still found time to learn the business, and made such rapid
progress that I astonished even my employer. I knew that I should soon
be able to make five or six francs a day; and this prospect was pleasant
enough to make me forget the present, well-nigh intolerable as it
sometimes was. During the last winter that I spent with my employers,
their orders were so numerous and pressing that they worked on Sundays
as well as on week days, and it was with difficulty that I obtained an
hour twice a month to pay a visit to the good sisters who had cared for
me in my childhood. I had never failed in this duty, and indeed it had
now become my only pleasure. My employer's conscience compelled him to
pay me a trifle occasionally for the additional toil he imposed upon me,
and the few francs I thus received I carried to the poor children at the
asylum. After living all my life on public charity, I was able to
give in my turn; and this thought gratifie