s much attention of the eye as deftness of hand in lifting
up the full spools and replacing them with empty ones, and fastening the
broken thread. He was convinced that if he did not shout and swear at them
incessantly, emphasizing each curse with a stout bang of his wooden leg on
the floor, he would see his machines stop, which to him was intolerable.
But as he was a good man at heart, no one paid much attention to him, and
besides, the greater part of his cursing was lost in the noise of the
machinery.

"Yes, and with it all, your machine has stopped," cried Rosalie
triumphantly, shaking her fist at him.

"Go on with you," he shouted back; "that ain't my fault."

"What's your name?" he added, addressing Perrine.

This request, which she ought to have foreseen, for only the night before
Rosalie had asked the same question, made her start. As she did not wish to
give her real name, she stood hesitating. Old Ninepins thought that she had
not heard, and banging his wooden leg on the floor again, he cried:

"I asked you what your name was, didn't I? Eh?"

She had time to collect herself and to recall the one that she had
already given to Rosalie.

"Aurelie," she said.

"Aurelie what?" he demanded.

"That is all ... just Aurelie," she replied.

"All right, Aurelie; come on with me," he said.

He took her to a small truck stationed in a far corner and explained
what she had to do, the same as Rosalie had.

"Do you understand?" he shouted several times.

She nodded.

And really what she had to do was so simple that she would indeed have
been stupid if she had been unable to do it. She gave all her attention
to the task, but every now and again old Ninepins called after her:

"Now, don't play on the way." But this was more to warn than to scold
her.

She had no thought of playing, but as she pushed her truck with a good
regular speed, while not stopping, she was able to see what was going on
on the way. One push started the truck, and all she had to do was to see
that there were no obstacles in its way.

At luncheon time each girl hurried to her home. Perrine went to the
baker's and got the baker to cut her a half a pound of bread, which she
ate as she walked the streets, smelling the while the good odor of the
soup which came from the open doors before which she passed. She walked
slowly when she smelled a soup that she liked. She was rather hungry,
and a half a pound of bread is not much, so it disappear