I replied
boldly, 'No.'

"'That's a pity,' she grumbled.

"But she wished to know my history, and I was compelled to tell it
to her. One thing only surprised her,--my age; and in fact, though
only thirteen, I looked fully sixteen.

"When I had done,

"'Never mind!' she said. 'It was lucky for you that you met me.
You are at least certain now of eating every day; for I am going
to take charge of you. I am getting old: you'll help me to drag
my cart. If you are as smart as you are pretty, we'll make money.'

"Nothing could suit me less. But how could I resist? She threw a
few rags upon the floor; and on them I had to sleep. The next day,
wearing my meanest dress, and a pair of wooden shoes which she had
bought for me, and which bruised my feet horribly, I had to harness
myself to the cart by means of a leather strap, which cut my
shoulders and my chest. She was an abominable creature, that woman;
and I soon found out that her repulsive features indicated but too
well her ignoble instincts. After leading a life of vice and shame,
she had, with the approach of old age, fallen into the most abject
poverty, and had adopted the trade of vegetable-vender, which she
carried on just enough to escape absolute starvation. Enraged at
her fate, she found a detestable pleasure in ill-treating me, or
in endeavoring to stain my imagination by the foulest speeches.

"Ah, if I had only known where to fly, and where to take refuge!
But, abusing my ignorance, that execrable woman had persuaded me,
that, if I attempted to go out alone, I would be arrested. And I
knew no one to whom I could apply for protection and advice. And
then I began to learn that beauty, to a poor girl, is a fatal gift.
One by one, the woman had sold every thing I had,--dresses,
underclothes, jewels; and I was now reduced to rags almost as mean
as when I was with the laundress.

"Every morning, rain or shine, hot or cold, we started, wheeling
our cart from village to village, all along the Seine, from
Courbevoie to Pont-Marly. I could see no end to this wretched
existence, when one evening the commissary of police presented
himself at our hovel, and ordered us to follow him.

"We were taken to prison; and there I found myself thrown among
some hundred women, whose faces, words, and gestures frightened
me. The vegetable-woman had committed a theft; and I was accused
of complicity. Fortunately I was easily able to demonstrate my
innocence; and,