re goes ten sous at once; then three sous
for butter, or oil and vinegar, to season the salad with, that makes
thirteen sous; a pail of nice fresh water,--oh, I must have that! it is
my principal extravagance,--that brings it to fifteen sous, don't you
see? Then add two or three sous a week for chickweed and seed for my
birds, who generally have part of my bread and milk; all this comes to
exactly twenty-three francs a month, neither more nor less."

"And do you never eat meat?"

"Meat, indeed! I should think not. Why, it costs from ten to twelve sous
a pound! A likely thing for me to buy! Besides, there is all the
nuisance and smell of cooking; instead of which, milk, vegetables, or
fruit, are always ready when you wish for them. I tell you what is a
favourite dish of mine, without being troublesome to prepare, and which
I excel in making."

"Oh, pray let me know what it is?"

"Why, I get some beautiful ripe, rosy apples, and put them at the top of
my little stove; when they are quite tender, I bruise them with a little
milk, and just a taste of sugar. It is a dish for an emperor. If you
behave well, I will let you taste it some day."

"Prepared by your hands, it can scarcely fail being excellent; but let
us keep to our reckoning. Let me see, we counted twenty-three francs for
living, etc., and twelve francs for lodging; that makes thirty-five
francs a month."

"Well, then, out of the forty-five or fifty francs I earn, there remains
from ten to fifteen francs a month for my wood and oil during the
winter, as well as for my clothes and washing; that is to say, for soap
and other requisites; because, excepting my sheets, I wash my own
things; that is another of my extravagances,--a good laundress would
pretty well ruin me; while, as I am a very quick and good ironer, the
expense is principally that of my own time. During the five winter
months I burn a load and a half of wood, while I consume about four or
five sous' worth of oil for my lamp daily; that makes it cost me about
eighty francs a year for fire and lights."

"So that you have, in fact, scarcely one hundred francs to clothe
yourself, and find you in pocket money."

"No more; yet out of that sum I managed to save my three francs and a
half."

"But your gowns, your shoes,--this smart little cap?"

"As for caps, I never wear one but when I go out, so that is not
ruinous; and, at home, I go bareheaded. As for my gowns and boots, have
I not got the Temp