"You must not think me a bad daughter, monsieur," said she, "because I'm
so pleased to leave home. Papa still works as much as he is able, though
he does not get much reward for it at the factory. And mamma does all
she can at home, though she hasn't much strength left her nowadays.
Since Victor came back from the army, he has married and has children
of his own, and I'm even afraid that he'll have more than he can provide
for, as, while he was in the army, he seems to have lost all taste for
work. But the sharpest of the family is that lazy-bones Irma, my younger
sister, who's so pretty and so delicate-looking, perhaps because she's
always ill. As you may remember, mamma used to fear that Irma might turn
out badly like Norine. Well, not at all! Indeed, she's the only one of
us who is likely to do well, for she's going to marry a clerk in the
post-office. And so the only ones left at home are myself and Alfred.
Oh! he is a perfect bandit! That is the plain truth. He committed a
theft the other day, and one had no end of trouble to get him out of the
hands of the police commissary. But all the same, mamma has a weakness
for him, and lets him take all my earnings. Yes, indeed, I've had quite
enough of him, especially as he is always terrifying me out of my wits,
threatening to beat and even kill me, though he well knows that ever
since my illness the slightest noise throws me into a faint. And as, all
considered, neither papa nor mamma needs me, it's quite excusable, isn't
it, that I should prefer living quietly alone. It is my right, is it
not, monsieur?"

She went on to speak of her sister Euphrasie, who had fallen into a most
wretched condition, said she, ever since passing through Dr. Gaude's
hands. Her home had virtually been broken up, she had become decrepit, a
mere bundle of rags, unable even to handle a broom. It made one tremble
to see her. Then, after a pause, just as the cab was reaching the Rue
Caroline, the girl continued: "Will you come up to see her? You might
say a few kind words to her. It would please me, for I'm going on a
rather unpleasant errand. I thought that she would have strength
enough to make some little boxes like me, and thus earn a few pence for
herself; but she has kept the work I gave her more than a month now, and
if she really cannot do it I must take it back."

Mathieu consented, and in the room upstairs he beheld one of the most
frightful, poignant spectacles that he had ever witn