gh drove her benumbed intellect to imbecility. In addition, they
made her blush at the things they said to her, which made her feel
ashamed, although she did not understand them. They soiled the
artlessness of her fourteen years with filthy veiled allusions. And they
found amusement in putting the eyes of her childish curiosity to the
keyholes of the private supper-rooms.

The little one longed to confide in her sisters, but she dared not.
When, with nourishing food, her body took on a little flesh, her cheeks
a little color and she began to have something of the aspect of a woman,
they took great liberties with her and grew bolder. There were attempts
at familiarity, significant gestures, advances, which she eluded, and
from which she escaped unscathed, but which assailed her purity by
breathing upon her innocence. Roughly treated, scolded, reviled by the
master of the establishment, who was accustomed to abuse his
maidservants and who bore her a grudge because she was not old enough or
of the right sort for a mistress, she found no support, no touch of
humanity, except in his wife. She began to love that woman with a sort
of animal devotion, and to obey her with the docility of a dog. She did
all her errands without thought or reflection. She carried her letters
to her lovers and was very clever about delivering them. She became very
active and agile and ingenuously sly in passing in and out, evading the
awakened suspicions of the husband; and without any clear idea of what
she was doing or of what she was concealing, she felt a mischievous
delight, such as children and monkeys feel, in telling herself vaguely
that she was causing some little suffering to that man and that house,
which caused her so much. There was among her comrades an old waiter,
named Joseph, who defended her, warned her of the cruel plots concocted
against her, and, when she was present, put a stop to conversation that
was too free, with the authority of his white hairs and his paternal
interest in the girl. Meanwhile Germinie's horror of the house increased
every day. One week her sisters were compelled to take her back to the
cafe by force.

A few days later, there was a great review on the Champ de Mars, and the
waiters had leave of absence for the day. Only Germinie and old Joseph
remained in the house. Joseph was at work sorting soiled linen in a
small, dark room. He told Germinie to come and help him. She entered the
room; she cried out, fe