our father in prison. If you endeavour to quit this house, the
consequences will fall on him; and, as for you, I will take care no one
shall take you into their house, for, without exactly affirming it, I
will contrive to make every one think you have robbed me. Then, should
any person refer to me for your character, I shall speak of you as an
idle, unworthy girl whom I could keep no longer.'

"The following day after this scene, spite of the menaces of my master,
I ran home to complain to my father of the unkind usage I received,
without daring, however, to tell him all. His first desire was for me
to quit the house of M. Ferrand without delay. But, then, a prison
would close upon my poor parent; added to which, my small earnings had
become indispensably necessary to our family since the illness of my
mother, and the bad character promised me by M. Ferrand might possibly
have prevented me from finding another service for a very long time."

"Yes," said Morel, with gloomy bitterness, "we were selfish and cowardly
enough to allow our poor child to return to that accursed roof. Oh, I
spoke truly when I said, 'Want, want, what mean, what degrading acts do
you not force us to commit!'"

"Alas, dear father, did you not try by every possible means to procure
these thirteen hundred francs? And, that being impossible, there was
nothing left but to submit ourselves to our fate."

"Go on, go on; your parents have been your executioners, and we are far
more guilty than yourself of all the fearful consequences!" exclaimed
the lapidary, concealing his face with his hands.

"When I next saw my master," said Louise, "he had resumed the harsh and
severe manner with which he ordinarily treated me. He made not the
slightest reference to the scene I have just related, while his
housekeeper persisted in her accustomed tormenting and unkind behaviour
towards me, giving me scarcely sufficient food to maintain my strength,
and even locking the bread up so that I could not help myself to a
morsel; she would even carry her cruelty so far as to wilfully spoil and
damage the morsels left by herself and M. Ferrand for my repasts, I
always taking my meals after my master and the housekeeper, who
invariably sat down to table together. My nights were as painful as my
days. I durst not indulge in sleep, lest I should be surprised by the
entrance of the notary. I had no means of securing my chamber door, and
the chest of drawers with which I used t