not altogether
unpleasant. They were harassed and wearied by their efforts to support
their son in a style of living far above their position; but, despite
their sacrifices, their son had no affection for them, and on this
account I pitied them. However, not only was the husband gloomy and
quick-tempered, but his wife also was subject to fits of passion, so
that the apprentices often had a hard time of it. Still, between Madame
Greloux's tempests of wrath there were occasional gleams of sunshine.
After beating us for nothing, she would exclaim, with quite as little
reason, 'Come and kiss me, and don't pout any more. Here are four sous;
go and buy yourself some cakes.'"

The justice started in his arm-chair. Was it, indeed, Mademoiselle
Marguerite who was speaking, the proud young girl with a queenlike
bearing, whose voice rang out like crystal? Was it she indeed, who
imitated the harsh, coarse dialect of the lower classes with such
accuracy of intonation? Ah! at that moment, as her past life rose so
vividly before her, it seemed to her as if she were still in the
years gone by, and she fancied she could still hear the voice of the
bookbinder's wife.

She did not even notice the magistrate's astonishment. "I had left the
asylum," she continued, "and that was everything to me. I felt that a
new and different life was beginning, and that was enough. I flattered
myself that I might win a more earnest and sincere affection among these
honest, industrious toilers, than I had found in the asylum; and to win
it and deserve it, I neglected nothing that good-will could suggest, or
strength allow. My patrons no doubt fathomed my desire, and naturally
enough, perhaps unconsciously, they took advantage of my wish to please.
I can scarcely blame them. I had entered their home under certain
conditions in view of learning a profession; they gradually made me
their servant--it was praiseworthy economy on their part. What I had at
first done of my own freewill and from a wish to please, at last became
my daily task, which I was rigidly required to fulfil. Compelled to rise
long before any one else in the house, I was expected to have everything
in order by the time the others made their appearance with their eyes
still heavy with sleep. It is true that my benefactors rewarded me after
their fashion. On Sundays they took me with them on their excursions
into the country, so as to give me a rest, they said, after the week's
work. And I