now before you went. You should have
said 'good-bye,' if you were only leaving me at night to return in the
morning; or, at any rate, you should have sent me word how you were
going on."

"I--I--quitted Paris so suddenly," stammered out Fleur-de-Marie,
becoming momentarily more and more embarrassed, "that, indeed--I--was
not able--"

"Oh, I'm not at all angry! I don't speak of it to scold you! I am far
too happy in meeting you unexpectedly; and, besides, I commend you for
getting out of such a dangerous place as Paris, where it is so difficult
to earn a quiet livelihood; for, you know, two poor friendless girls
like you and me might be led into mischief, without thinking of, or
intending, any harm. When there is no person to advise, it leaves one so
very defenceless; and then come a parcel of deceitful, flattering men,
with their false promises, when, perhaps, want and misery are staring
you in the face. There, for instance, do you recollect that pretty girl
called Julie?--and Rosine, who had such a beautiful fair skin, and such
coal black eyes?"

"Oh, yes, I recollect them very well!"

"Then, my dear Goualeuse, you will be extremely sorry to hear that they
were both led astray, seduced, and deserted, till at last, from one
unfortunate step to another, they have become like the miserable
creatures confined in this prison!"

"Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Fleur-de-Marie, hanging down her head, and
blushing the deep blush of shame.

Rigolette, misinterpreting the real cause of her friend's exclamation,
continued:

"I admit that their conduct is wrong, nay wicked; but then, you know, my
dear Goualeuse, because you and I have been so fortunate as to preserve
ourselves from harm,--you, because you have been living with good and
virtuous people in the country, out of the reach of temptation; and I,
because I had no time to waste in listening to a set of make-believe
lovers; and also because I found greater pleasure in having a few birds,
and in trying to get things a little comfortable and snug around me,--I
say, it is not for you and me to be too severe with others; and God
alone knows whether opportunity, deceit, and destitution may not have
had much to do in causing the misery and disgrace of Julie and Rosine!
And who can say whether, in their place, we might not have acted as they
have done?"

"Alas!" cried Fleur-de-Marie, "I accuse them not; on the contrary, I
pity them from my heart!"

"Come, come, my dear ch