at the end of two weeks, a jailer opened the door
to me, saying, 'Go: you are free!'"

Maxence understood now the gently ironical smile with which Mlle.
Lucienne had heard him assert that he, too, had been very unhappy.
What a life hers had been! And how could such things be within a
step of Paris, in the midst of a society which deems its organization
too perfect to consent to modify it!

Mlle. Lucienne went on, speaking somewhat faster,

"I was indeed free; but of what use could my freedom be to me? I
knew not which way to go. A mechanical instinct took me back to
Rueil. I fancied I would be safer among people who all knew me,
and that I might find shelter in our old lodgings. But this
last hope was disappointed. Immediately after our arrest, the
owner of the building had thrown out every thing it contained, and
had rented it to a hideous beggar, who offered me, with a giggle,
to become his housekeeper. I ran off as fast as I could.

"The situation was certainly more horrible now than the day when
I had been turned out of my benefactress' house. But the eight
months I had just spent with the horrible woman had taught me anew
how to bear misery, and had nerved up my energy.

"I took out from a fold of my dress, where I had kept it constantly
hid, the twenty-franc-piece I had received; and, as I was hungry,
I entered a sort of eating and lodging house, where I had
occasionally taken a meal. The proprietor was a kind-hearted man.
When I had told him my situation, he invited me to remain with
him until I could find something better. On Sundays and Mondays
the customers were plenty; and he was obliged to take an extra
servant. He offered me that work to do, promising, in exchange,
my lodging and one meal a day. I accepted. The next day being
Sunday, I commenced the arduous duties of a bar-maid in a low
drinking house. My _pourboires_ amounted sometimes to five or ten
francs; I had my board and lodging free; and at the end of three
months I had been able to provide myself with some decent clothing,
and was commencing to accumulate a little reserve, when the
lodging-house keeper, whose business had unexpectedly developed
itself to a considerable extent, concluded to engage a man-waiter,
and urged me to look elsewhere for work. I did so. An old neighbor
of ours told me of a situation at Bougival, where she said I would
be very comfortable. Overcoming my repugnance, I applied, and was
accepted. I was