int,
steel and matches. She placed these articles on the top of the basket,
and took it in one hand, and the earthen pot in the other. As she
passed near the corpse of the poor charcoal-dealer, Cephyse said, with a
strange smile: "I rob you, poor Mother Arsene, but my theft will not do
me much good."

Cephyse left the shop, reclosed the door as well as she could, went up
the passage, and crossed the little court-yard which separated the
front of the building from that part in which Rodin had lodged. With the
exception of the windows of Philemon's apartment, where Rose-Pompon had
so often sat perched like a bird, warbling Beranger, the other windows
of the house were open. There had been deaths on the first and second
floors, and, like many others, they were waiting for the cart piled up
with coffins.

The Bacchanal Queen gained the stairs, which led to the chambers
formerly occupied by Rodin. Arrived at the landing-place she ascended
another ruinous staircase, steep as a ladder, and with nothing but an
old rope for a rail. She at length reached the half-rotten door of
a garret, situated in the roof. The house was in such a state of
dilapidation, that, in many places the roof gave admission to the rain,
and allowed it to penetrate into this cell, which was not above ten feet
square, and lighted by an attic window. All the furniture consisted of
an old straw mattress, laid upon the ground, with the straw peeping out
from a rent in its ticking; a small earthenware pitcher, with the spout
broken, and containing a little water, stood by the side of this couch.
Dressed in rags, Mother Bunch was seated on the side of the mattress,
with her elbows on her knees, and her face concealed in her thin, white
hands. When Cephyse entered the room, the adopted sister of Agricola
raised her head; her pale, mild face seemed thinner than ever, hollow
with suffering, grief, misery; her eyes, red with weeping, were fixed on
her sister with an expression of mournful tenderness.

"I have what we want, sister," said Cephyse, in a low, deep voice; "in
this basket there is wherewith to finish our misery."

Then, showing to Mother Bunch the articles she had just placed on the
floor, she added: "For the first time in my life, I have been a thief.
It made me ashamed and frightened; I was never intended for that or
worse. It is a pity." added she, with a sardonic smile.

After a moment's silence, the hunchback said to her sister, in a heart
ren