Clichy, like a regular vagabond;
I fed on cabbage-stumps and other refuse vegetables, which I picked up
when and where I could; but very often, as it was so far to the
lime-kilns at Clichy, and I was tired after my work, I slept under the
large stones at the Louvre; and then, in winter, I had white
sheets,--that is, whenever the snow fell."

"A man is stronger; but a poor little girl--" said Fleur-de-Marie. "And
yet, with all that, I was as plump as a skylark."

"What! you remember that, eh?"

"To be sure I do. When the Chouette beat me I fell always at the first
blow; then she stamped upon me, screaming out, 'Ah, the nasty little
brute! she hasn't a farden's worth of strength,--she can't stand even
two thumps!' And then she called me Pegriotte (little thief). I never
had any other name,--that was my baptismal name."

"Like me. I had the baptism of a dog in a ditch, and they called me
'Fellow,' or 'You, sir,' or 'Albino.' It is really surprising, my wench,
how much we resemble each other!" said the Chourineur.

"That's true,--in our misery," said Fleur-de-Marie, who addressed
herself to the Chourineur almost always, feeling, in spite of herself, a
sort of shame at the presence of Rodolph, hardly venturing to raise her
eyes to him, although in appearance he belonged to that class with whom
she ordinarily lived.

"And when you had fetched the worms for the Chouette, what did you do?"
inquired the Chourineur.

"Why, she made me beg until night; then, in the evening, she went to
sell fried fish on the Pont Neuf. Oh, dear! at that time it was a long
while to wait for my morsel of bread; and if I dared to ask the Chouette
for something to eat, she beat me and said, 'Get ten sous, and then you
shall have your supper.' Then I, being very hungry, and as she hurt me
very much, cried with a very full heart and sore body. The Chouette tied
my little basket of barley-sugar round my neck, and stationed me on the
Pont Neuf, where, in winter, I was frozen to death. Yet sometimes, in
spite of myself, I slept as I stood,--but not long; for the Chouette
kicked me until I awoke. I remained on the bridge till eleven o'clock,
my stock of barley-sugar hanging round my neck, and often crying
heartily. The passengers, touched by my tears, sometimes gave me a sou;
and then I gained ten and sometimes fifteen sous, which I gave to the
Chouette, who searched me all over, and even looked in my mouth, to see
if I had kept back anything."