o'clock, the attention of the
passers-by in the Rue St. Denis was attracted by cries which seemed
to proceed from a four-storied house situated at the corner of the
Rue Sainte-Apolline. The cries were evidently cries of despair. Some
people went to the nearest guardhouse to make the fact known, and
four National Guards, preceded by their corporal, entered the house.
Guided by the sound of the cries they arrived at the fourth storey,
and broke open the door. A horrible spectacle was then exposed to
the view of the Guards and of the persons who had followed them in
their quest. Three young children lay stretched on the floor of the
room, the disorder of which denoted a recent struggle. The poor
little things were without any covering whatever, and there were
traces of blows upon their bodies; one of them had a cut across the
forehead. The National Guards questioned the children with an almost
maternal kindness. They had not eaten for four days, and, in
consequence of this prolonged fast, they were in such a state of
moral and physical abasement that no precise information could be
obtained from them. The corporal then addressed himself to the
neighbours, and soon became acquainted with a part of the terrible
truth.

"In this room lived a poor work-girl, young and pretty. One day, as
she was carrying back her work to the shop, she observed that she
was followed by a well-dressed man, whose physiognomy indicated the
lowest passions. He spoke to her, and was at first repulsed; but,
like the tempter Faust offering jewels to Marguerite, he tempted her
with bright promises, and the poor girl, to whom work did not always
come, listened to the base seducer. Blame her not too harshly, pity
her rather, and reserve all your indignation for the wretch who
betrayed her.

"After three years, which were but anguish and remorse to the
miserable woman, and during which she had no other consolation but
the smiles of the children whose very existence was a crime, she was
becoming reconciled at last to her life, when the father of her
children deserted her.

"This desertion coincided with the glorious revolution of the 18th
of March; and the poor work-girl, who had still room in her heart
for patriotism, found some consolation in reflecting that the day,
so miserable for her, had at least bro