care for the novels. She carried one in her
head much more interesting than all that trash.

The fact is, nothing could make her forget the factory. When she set
forth in the morning on her father's arm, she always cast a glance in
that direction. At that hour the works were just stirring, the chimney
emitted its first puff of black smoke. Sidonie, as she passed, could
hear the shouts of the workmen, the dull, heavy blows of the bars of
the printing-press, the mighty, rhythmical hum of the machinery; and all
those sounds of toil, blended in her memory with recollections of fetes
and blue-lined carriages, haunted her persistently.

They spoke louder than the rattle of the omnibuses, the street cries,
the cascades in the gutters; and even in the workroom, when she was
sorting the false pearls even at night, in her own home, when she went,
after dinner, to breathe the fresh air at the window on the landing and
to gaze at the dark, deserted factory, that murmur still buzzed in her
ears, forming, as it were, a continual accompaniment to her thoughts.

"The little one is tired, Madame Chebe. She needs diversion. Next Sunday
I will take you all into the country."

These Sunday excursions, which honest Risler organized to amuse Sidonie,
served only to sadden her still more.

On those days she must rise at four o'clock in the morning; for the poor
must pay for all their enjoyments, and there was always a ribbon to
be ironed at the last moment, or a bit of trimming to be sewn on in
an attempt to rejuvenate the everlasting little lilac frock with white
stripes which Madame Chebe conscientiously lengthened every year.

They would all set off together, the Chebes, the Rislers, and the
illustrious Delobelle. Only Desiree and her mother never were of the
party. The poor, crippled child, ashamed of her deformity, never would
stir from her chair, and Mamma Delobelle stayed behind to keep her
company. Moreover, neither possessed a suitable gown in which to
show herself out-of-doors in their great man's company; it would have
destroyed the whole effect of his appearance.

When they left the house, Sidonie would brighten up a little. Paris in
the pink haze of a July morning, the railway stations filled with light
dresses, the country flying past the car windows, and the healthful
exercise, the bath in the pure air saturated with the water of the
Seine, vivified by a bit of forest, perfumed by flowering meadows, by
ripening grain, al