the morning work
of the house; and after his day's labor (which ends in wood-yards at
half-past four in the afternoon) he returned to his domestic avocations.
He went to the fountain of the Observatoire for the water used in the
house, which the widow supplied to the tenants, together with bundles of
kindling, sawed and tied up by him.

Nepomucene, such was the name of the widow Vauthier's slave, brought
the daily journal to his mistress. In summer the poor forsaken lad was
a waiter in the wine-shops at the barrier; and then his mistress dressed
him properly.

As for the stout girl, she cooked under direction of the widow, and
helped her in another department of industry during the rest of the day;
for Madame Vauthier had a business,--she made list shoes, which were
bought and sold by pedlers.

Godefroid learned all these details in about an hour's time; for the
widow took him everywhere, and showed him the whole building, explaining
its transformation into a dwelling. Until 1828 it had been a nursery for
silk-worms, less for the silk than to obtain what they call the eggs.
Eleven acres planted with mulberries on the plain of Montrouge, and
three acres on the rue de l'Ouest, afterwards built over, had supplied
this singular establishment.

Just as the widow was explaining to Godefroid how Monsieur Barbet,
having lent money to an Italian named Fresconi, the manager of the
business, could recover his money only by foreclosing a mortgage on the
building and seizing the three acres on the rue Notre-Dame des Champs,
a tall, spare old man with snow-white hair appeared at the end of the
street which leads into the square of the rue de l'Ouest.

"Ah! here he comes, just in time!" cried the Vauthier; "that's your
neighbor Monsieur Bernard. Monsieur Bernard!" she called out as soon as
the old man was within hearing; "you won't be alone any longer; here is
a gentleman who has hired the rooms opposite to yours."

Monsieur Bernard turned his eyes on Godefroid with an apprehension it
was easy to fathom; the look seemed to say: "The misfortune I feared has
come to pass."

"Monsieur," he said aloud, "do you intend to live here?"

"Yes, monsieur," said Godefroid, honestly. "It is not a resort for the
fortunate of this earth and it is the least expensive place I can find
in the quarter. Madame Vauthier does not pretend to lodge millionnaires.
Adieu, for the present, my good Madame Vauthier, and have everything
ready for me at