h a burst of frightful mirth;
"what a good thing it is she did not live to be as old as Louise! I
never could have persuaded anybody to trust me for a coffin large enough
for a girl of eighteen years of age."

"I say, just look at that chap!" said Bourdin to Malicorne. "I'll be
dashed if I don't think as he's a-going mad, like the old woman there!
Only see how he rolls his eyes about,--enough to frighten one! Come, I
say, let's make haste and be off. Only hark, how that idiot creature is
a-roaring for something to eat! Well, they are rum customers, from
beginning to end!"

"We must get done with them as soon as we can. Although the law only
allows us seventy-six francs, seventy-five centiemes, for arresting this
beggar, yet, in justice to ourselves, we must swell the costs to two
hundred and forty or two hundred and fifty francs. You know the sufferer
(the creditor) pays us!"

"You mean, advances the cash. Old Gaffer there will have to pay the
piper, since he must dance to the music."

"Well, by the time he has paid his creditor 2,500 francs for debt,
interest, and expenses, etc., he'll find it pretty warm work."

"A devilish sight more than we do our job up here! I'm a'most
frost-bitten!" cried the bailiff, blowing the ends of his fingers.
"Come, old fellow, make haste, will you! Just look sharp! You can
snivel, you know, as we go along. Why, how the devil can we help it, if
your brat has kicked the bucket?"

"These beggars always have such a lot of children, if they have nothing
else!"

"Yes, so they have," responded Malicorne. Then, slapping Morel on the
shoulder, he called out in a loud voice, "I tell you what it is, my
friend, we're not going to be kept dawdling here all day,--our time is
precious. So either out with the stumpy, or march off to prison,
without any more bother!"

"Prison!" exclaimed a clear, youthful voice; "take M. Morel to prison!"
and a bright, beaming face appeared at the door.

"Ah, Mlle. Rigolette," cried the weeping children, as they recognised
the happy, healthful countenance of their young protectress and friend,
"these wicked men are going to take our poor father away, and put him in
prison! And sister Adele is just dead!"

"Dead!" cried the kind-hearted girl, her dark eyes filling with
compassionating tears; "poor little thing! But it cannot be true that
your father is in danger of a prison;" and, almost stupefied with
surprise, she gazed alternately from the children to More