stander; "she had to be mighty thin to come down
the river on an empty basket!"

"You see, she must have fallen in with the basket on her back----"

"I was pushed in," corrected Fouchette.

"Pushed into the river?"

"What's that?"

"Who did it, child?"

"Impossible!"

"There is some devilish crime here."

"It's a case for the police."

This last observation came from the policeman as he brought out his
note-book, while a buzz of indignation ran through the crowd.

Fouchette heard these mutterings and saw the inquisitorial pencil of
the official in uniform. He had shut off his light with a snap.

At this moment Tartar, having heard the voice of his mistress, had
struggled to his feet, and now dragged himself over to where she lay.
The crowd separated for him.

"Ah! Tartar!" exclaimed Fouchette, affectionately, raising her hand to
his head.

With a whimper of joy the noble animal licked her hand, her face and
neck, wagging his bedraggled tail with intense satisfaction, winding
up this demonstration by lying down by her side as closely as he could
get, and giving a long breath, which in a human being would be called
a sigh.

The act moved the coarse bargewoman to tears, while the men turned
away to hide their emotion.

The silence was profound,--the testimony of a sentiment too deep for
mere words.

The police agent was the first to come to the practical point in the
situation. The violence phase of the case made him consequential. It
would invite the attention of his superiors. It would get his name in
the daily journals.

"What is your name, child?"

The intended victim of police interrogatory closed her eyes without
answering.

"You were thrown into the river. It is necessary for us to know the
name of the person who committed this outrage. If you do not know, it
is our business to find out. The miscreant must be arrested and
punished. Where do you live?"

No answer.

"Speak, my child! Speak up!"

She had reopened her eyes and now looked at him steadily, stonily, but
without a word. He was nonplussed.

As Fouchette began rapidly to recover her strength she also recovered
her self-possession, also the results of her training. Foremost among
these were her suspicions of the police, whom she had come to believe
were organized by society to restrain and harass the poor; that the
informer was the lowest grade of humanity.

In addition to these precepts of the barriers, Fouchette was afraid.