ver being my fate. Oh, M. Rodolph, that dread often comes across me
and fills me with terror."

"Alas! poor folks, such as we are, should not shrink from such things."

"'Tis not the dying in a charitable institution I dread, or the poverty
that would send me into it, but the thoughts of what they do to your
lifeless remains."

"What do they do that shocks you so much?"

"Is it possible, M. Rodolph, you have never been told what will become
of you if you die in one of those places?"

"No, indeed, I have not; do you tell me."

"Well, then, I knew a young girl, who had been a sort of companion to me
when I was in prison; she afterwards died in a hospital, and what do you
think? Her body was given to the surgeons for dissection!" murmured the
shuddering Fleur-de-Marie.

"That is, indeed, a frightful idea! And do these miserable anticipations
often trouble you, my poor girl?"

"Ah, M. Rodolph, it surprises you that, after my unhappy life, I can
feel any concern as to what becomes of my miserable remains! God knows,
the feeling which makes me shrink from such an outrage to modesty is all
my wretched fate has left me!"

The mournful tone in which these words were uttered, and the bitter
feelings they contained, went to the heart of Rodolph; but his
companion, quickly perceiving his air of dejection, and blaming herself
for having caused it, said, timidly:

"M. Rodolph, I feel that I am behaving very ill and ungratefully towards
you, who so kindly brought me out to amuse me and give me pleasure; in
return for which I only keep talking to you about all the dull and
gloomy things I can think of! I wonder how I can do so!--to be able even
to recollect my misery, when all around me smiles and looks so gay! I
cannot tell how it is, words seem to rise from my lips in spite of
myself; and, though I feel happier to-day than I ever did before in my
life, my eyes are continually filling with tears! You are not angry with
me, are you, M. Rodolph? See, too, my sadness is going away as suddenly
as it came. There now, it is all gone, and shall not return to vex you
any more, I am determined. Look, M. Rodolph, just look at my eyes,--they
do not show that I have been crying, do they?"

And here Fleur-de-Marie, having repeatedly closed her eyes to get rid of
the rebellious tears that would gather there, opened them full upon
Rodolph, with a look of most enchanting candour and sweetness.

"Put no restraint on yourself, I beseech y