ead, and she was
perspiring from head to foot.

It was not to be wondered at. She was suffocating for want of air; and
if the other girls in the room were not stifled like her, it was because
they were accustomed to this atmosphere, which to one who was in the
habit of sleeping in the open air was unbearable.

But she thought that if they could endure it she should. But
unfortunately one does not breathe as one wishes, nor when one wishes.
If she closed her mouth she could not get enough air into her lungs.

What was going to happen to her? She struggled up in bed, tearing at the
paper which replaced the window pane against which her bed was placed. She
tore away the paper, doing so as quietly as possible so as not to wake the
girls beside her. Then putting her mouth to the opening she leaned her
tired little head on the window sill. Finally in sheer weariness she fell
asleep.

CHAPTER X

THE HUT ON THE ISLAND

When she awoke a pale streak of light fell across the window, but it was
so feeble that it did not lighten the room. Outside the cocks were
crowing. Day was breaking.

A chill, damp air was penetrating through the opening she had made in
the window, but in spite of that the bad odor in the room still
remained. It was dreadful!

Yet all the girls slept a deep slumber, only broken now and again with a
stifled moan.

Very quietly she got up and dressed. Then taking her shoes in her hands
she crept down the stairs to the door. She put on her shoes and went
out.

Oh! the fresh, delicious air! Never had she taken a breath with such
thankfulness. She went through the little yard with her mouth wide open,
her nostrils quivering, her head thrown back. The sound of her footsteps
awoke a dog, which commenced to bark; then several other dogs joined in.

But what did that matter? She was no longer a little tramp at whom dogs
were at liberty to bark. If she wished to leave her bed she had a
perfect right to do so; she had paid out money for it.

The yard was too small for her present mood; she felt she must move
about. She went out onto the road and walked straight ahead without
knowing where.

The shades of night still filled the roads, but above her head she saw
the dawn already whitening the tops of the trees and the roofs of the
houses. In a few minutes it would be day. At this moment the clang of a
bell broke the deep silence. It was the factory clock striking three.
She still had three more hour