o the country only to please
me."

"And you did not even leave yourself a few sous to live upon whilst you
found work?" said the Chourineur.

"Yes, I had reserved about fifty francs; but it happened that I had for
my washerwoman a woman called Lorraine, a poor thing, with none but the
good God to protect her. She was then very near her confinement, and yet
was obliged all day long to be with her hands and feet in her
washing-tubs. She fell sick, and, not being able to work, applied for
admittance to a lying-in hospital, but there was no room. She could not
work, and her time was very near at hand, and she had not a son to pay
for the bed in a garret, from which they drove her. Fortunately, she met
one day, at the end of the Pont Notre-Dame, with Goubin's wife, who had
been hiding for four days in a cellar of a house which was being pulled
down behind the Hotel Dieu--"

"But why was Goubin's wife hiding?"

"To escape from her husband, who threatened to kill her; and she only
went out at night to buy some bread, and it was then she met with the
poor Lorraine, ill, and hardly able to drag herself along, for she was
expecting to be brought to bed every hour. Well, it seems this Goubin's
wife took her to the cellar where she was hiding,--it was just a
shelter, and no more. There she shared her bread and straw with the poor
Lorraine, who was confined in this cellar of a poor little infant; her
only covering and bed was straw! Well, it seems that Goubin's wife could
not bear it, and so, going out at all risks, even of being killed by her
husband, who was looking for her everywhere, she left the cellar in open
day, and came to me. She knew I had still a little money left, and that
I could assist her if I would; so, when Helmina had told me all about
poor Lorraine, who was obliged to lie with her new-born babe on straw, I
told her to bring them both to my room at once, and I would take a
chamber for her next to mine. This I did; and, oh, how happy she was,
poor Lorraine, when she found herself in a bed, with her babe beside her
in a little couch which I had bought for her! Helmina and I nursed her
until she was able to get about again, and then, with the rest of my
money, I enabled her to return to her washing-tubs."

"And when all your money was spent on Lorraine and her infant, what did
you do, my child?" inquired Rodolph.

"I looked out for work; but it was too late. I can sew very well, I have
good courage, and though