bbing heart. In addition to the stout gentleman and the
Lady Superior, I found there a thin, wiry man, with cunning eyes, and a
portly woman, with a coarse but rather good-natured face. The superior
at once informed me that I was in the presence of M. and Madame Greloux,
bookbinders, who had come to the asylum in search of two apprentices,
and she asked me if I should like to be one of them. Ah! monsieur, it
seemed to me that heaven had opened before me and I boldly replied:
'Yes.' The gentleman in the black skullcap immediately emerged from his
place behind the grating to explain my obligations and duties to me
at length, especially insisting upon the point, that I ought to be
grateful--I, a miserable foundling, reared by public charity--for the
generosity which this good gentleman and lady showed in offering to
take charge of me and employ me in their workshop. I must confess that
I could not clearly realize in what this great generosity which he so
highly praised consisted, nor did I perceive any reason why I should be
particularly grateful. Still, to all the conditions imposed upon me,
I answered, 'Yes, yes, yes!' so heartily that Madame Greloux seemed
greatly pleased. 'It is evident that the child will be glad to get
away,' she said to herself. Then the superior began to enumerate the
obligations my employers would incur, repeating again and again that
I was one of the very best girls in the asylum--pious, obedient, and
industrious, reading and writing to perfection, and knowing how to sew
and embroider as only those who are taught in such institutions can. She
made Madame Greloux promise to watch over me as she would have watched
over her own daughter; never to leave me alone; to take me to church,
and allow me an occasional Sunday afternoon, so that I might pay a visit
to the asylum. The gentleman with the spectacles and the skullcap
then reminded the bookbinder of the duties of an employer toward his
apprentices, and turning to a bookcase behind him, he even took down a
large volume from which he read extract after extract, which I listened
to without understanding a word, though I was quite sure that the book
was written in French. At last, when the man and his wife had said
'Amen' to everything, the gentleman with the spectacles drew up a
document which we all signed in turn. I belonged to a master."

She paused. Here her childhood ended. But almost immediately she
resumed: "My recollections of these people are