openly as his mistress; so
I had that indignity to endure for the second time. He soon began to
make away with the few poor things I had managed to get together; so,
foreseeing what would be the end of such conduct, I went to a lawyer who
lived in the same house, and begged him to advise me how to act to
prevent my husband from taking the very bed from me and my children."

"Why, there needed no lawyer, I should think, to tell you that the only
thing you had to do was to turn your husband out of your doors."

"Ah, but I could not,--the law gave me no power to do so. The lawyer
told me that, as 'head of the family,' my husband could take up his
abode wherever I dwelt, and was not compelled to labour unless he liked;
that it was very hard for me to have to maintain him, and endure his
ill-treatment into the bargain, but that he recommended me to submit to
it, though certainly the circumstance of his having a mistress living
under the same roof entitled me to demand separation from 'bed and
board,' as he called it; and further, that as I would bring witnesses to
prove his having repeatedly struck me, and otherwise ill-treated me, I
could institute a suit against him, but that it would cost me, at the
very least, from four to five hundred francs to obtain a perfect
separation from him. Only think what a sum,--as much as I should earn in
a year! And who would lend me so much money, which would have to be
repaid heaven knows how? For four or five hundred francs is a perfect
fortune."

"Yet there is one very simple means of amassing the money," replied
Pique-Vinaigre, bitterly; "that of living upon air during the twelve
months it would take you to earn that sum, working all the same, but
denying yourself even the necessaries of life; and I am only surprised
the lawyer did not advise you to starve yourself and your children, or
any other kind-hearted expediency."

"You always make a jest of everything, brother!"

"This time, however, I am not in a jesting humour. It is scandalous that
the law should be so expensive to poor creatures such as we. Now, just
look at yourself,--a good and affectionate mother, striving by every
means in your power to bring up your children honestly and creditably;
your husband, a bad, lazy fellow, who, not content with stripping you of
all you earn, that he may spend his time in drinking and all sorts of
loose pleasures, beats and ill-uses you into the bargain. Well, you
apply to the justice of