ted in their seats and cried with one voice--"That's
not true! She lies! This is infamous!"

The president had them silenced and continued, "Go on, please, and tell
us how it all happened."

Then she suddenly began to talk freely, relieving her pent-up heart, that
poor, solitary, crushed heart--laying bare her sorrow, her whole
sorrow, before those severe men whom she had until now taken for enemies
and inflexible judges.

"Yes, it was Monsieur Joseph Varambot, when he came on leave last year."

"What does Mr. Joseph Varambot do?"

"He is a non-commissioned officer in the artillery, monsieur. Well, he
stayed two months at the house, two months of the summer. I thought
nothing about it when he began to look at me, and then flatter me, and
make love to me all day long. And I let myself be taken in, monsieur. He
kept saying to me that I was a handsome girl, that I was good company,
that I just suited him--and I, I liked him well enough. What could I do?
One listens to these things when one is alone--all alone--as I was. I am
alone in the world, monsieur. I have no one to talk to--no one to tell my
troubles to. I have no father, no mother, no brother, no sister, nobody.
And when he began to talk to me it was as if I had a brother who had come
back. And then he asked me to go with him to the river one evening, so
that we might talk without disturbing any one. I went--I don't know--I
don't know how it happened. He had his arm around me. Really I didn't
want to--no--no--I could not--I felt like crying, the air was so soft
--the moon was shining. No, I swear to you--I could not--he did what he
wanted. That went on three weeks, as long as he stayed. I could have
followed him to the ends of the world. He went away. I did not know that
I was enceinte. I did not know it until the month after--"

She began to cry so bitterly that they had to give her time to collect
herself.

Then the president resumed with the tone of a priest at the confessional:
"Come, now, go on."

She began to talk again: "When I realized my condition I went to see
Madame Boudin, who is there to tell you, and I asked her how it would be,
in case it should come if she were not there. Then I made the outfit,
sewing night after night, every evening until one o'clock in the morning;
and then I looked for another place, for I knew very well that I should
be sent away, but I wanted to stay in the house until the very last, so
as to save my pennies, for I hav