s, who are returning to their homes
after a night of riot and debauchery: for the former the day was
beginning, for the latter it was just closing. La Valliere was afraid of
those faces, in which her ignorance of Parisian types did not permit her
to distinguish the type of probity from that of dishonesty. The
appearance of misery alarmed her, and all whom she met seemed wretched
and miserable. Her toilet, which was the same she had worn during the
previous evening, was elegant even in its careless disorder: for it was
the one in which she had presented herself to the queen-mother; and,
moreover, when she drew aside the mantle which covered her face in order
to enable her to see the way she was going, her pallor and her beautiful
eyes spoke an unknown language to the men she met, and, ignorantly, the
poor fugitive seemed to invite the brutal remarks of the one class, or
to appeal to the compassion of the other. La Valliere still walked on in
the same way, breathless and hurried, until she reached the top of the
Place de Greve. She stopped from time to time, placed her hand upon her
heart, leaned against a wall until she could breathe freely again, and
then continued her course more rapidly than before. On reaching the
Place de Greve, La Valliere suddenly came upon a group of three drunken
men, reeling and staggering along, who were just leaving a boat, which
they had made fast to the quay; the boat was freighted with wines, and
it was apparent that they had done complete justice to the merchandise.
They were singing their convivial exploits in three different keys, when
suddenly, as they reached the end of the railing leading down to the
quay, they found an obstacle in their path in the shape of this young
girl. La Valliere stopped; while they, on their side, at the appearance
of the young girl dressed in court costume, also halted, and, seizing
each other by the hand, they surrounded La Valliere, singing:

"Oh! you who sadly are wandering alone,
Come, come, and laugh with us."

La Valliere at once understood that the men were addressing her, and
wished to prevent her passing; she tried to do so several times, but all
her efforts were useless. Her limbs failed her; she felt she was on the
point of falling, and uttered a cry of terror. At the same moment, the
circle which surrounded her was suddenly broken through in a most
violent manner. One of her insulters was knocked to the left, another
fell rolling over and ov