ey try to look
unconcerned, but as they walk along they snap out the ribbon with their
thumb--as one shells little peas, you know."

She paused; then, as no one joined in her laugh, she continued, "Well,
at last the police got after me, That's a story that I've never been
able to understand. Those filthy men gave me a nasty disease, and then I
was to be shut in prison for it! That was a little too much, it seems to
me."

"Well," said the doctor, grimly, "you revenged yourself on them--from
what you have told me."

The other laughed. "Oh, yes," she said. "I had my innings." She turned
to Monsieur Loches. "You want me to tell you that? Well, just on the
very day I learned that the police were after me, I was coming home
furious, naturally. It was on the Boulevard St. Denis, if you know the
place--and whom do you think I met? My old master--the one who got me
into trouble, you know. There it was, God's own will! I said to myself,
'Now, my good fellow, here's the time where you pay me what you owe me,
and with interest, too!' I put on a little smile--oh, it didn't take
very long, you may be sure!"

The woman paused; her face darkened, and she went on, in a voice
trembling with agitation: "When I had left him, I was seized with a
rage. A sort of madness got into my blood. I took on all the men who
offered themselves, for whatever they offered me, for nothing, if they
didn't offer me anything. I took as many as I could, the youngest ones
and the handsomest ones. Just so! I only gave them back what they had
given to me. And since that time I haven't really cared about anyone any
more. I just turned it all into a joke." She paused, and then looking
at the deputy, and reading in his face the horror with which he was
regarding her, "Oh, I am not the only one!" she exclaimed. "There
are lots of other women who do the same. To be sure, it is not for
vengeance--it is because they must have something to eat. For even if
you have syphilis, you have to eat, don't you? Eh?"

She had turned to the doctor, but he did not answer. There was a long
silence; and then thinking that his friend, the deputy, had heard enough
for one session, the doctor rose. He dismissed the woman, the cause of
all George Dupont's misfortunes, and turning to Monsieur Loches, said:
"It was on purpose that I brought that wretched prostitute before
you. In her the whole story is summed up--not merely the story of your
son-in-law, but that of all the victims of