, indeed, I regretted to have followed the first
inspiration of my pride, and the more so, that the good sisters whom
I consulted on the subject told me that I was wrong, and that my
reclamation would be perfectly proper. At their suggestion, I then
adopted another line of conduct, which, they thought, would as surely
bring about the same result.

"As briefly as possible, I wrote out the history of my life from
the day I had been left with the gardeners at Louveciennes. I added
to it a faithful account of my present situation; and I addressed
the whole to Mme. de Thaller.

"'You'll see if she don't come before a day or two,' said the sisters.

"They were mistaken. Mme. de Thaller came neither the next nor the
following days; and I was still awaiting her answer, when, one
morning, the doctor announced that I was well enough to leave the
hospital.

"I cannot say that I was very sorry. I had lately made the
acquaintance of a young workwoman, who had been sent to the hospital
in consequence of a fall, and who occupied the bed next to mine.
She was a girl of about twenty, very gentle, very obliging, and whose
amiable countenance had attracted me from the first.

"Like myself, she had no parents. But she was rich, very rich. She
owned the furniture of the room, a sewing-machine, which had cost
her three hundred francs, and, like a true child of Paris, she
understood five or six trades, the least lucrative of which yielded
her twenty-five or thirty cents a day. In less than a week, we had
become good friends; and, when she left the hospital,

"'Believe me,' she said: 'when you come out yourself, don't waste
your time looking for a place. Come to me: I can accommodate you.
I'll teach you what I know; and, if you are industrious, you'll make
your living, and you'll be free.'

"It was to her room that I went straight from the hospital, carrying,
tied in a handkerchief, my entire baggage,--one dress, and a few
undergarments that the good sisters had given me.

"She received me like a sister, and after showing me her lodging,
two little attic-rooms shining with cleanliness,

"'You'll see,' she said, kissing me, 'how happy we'll be here.'"

It was getting late. M. Fortin had long ago come up and put out
the gas on the stairs. One by one, every noise had died away in
the hotel. Nothing now disturbed the silence of the night save
the distant sound of some belated cab on the Boulevard. But neither
Maxence nor M