nquisitive, she walked on
silently, but Rosalie's tongue could not be still for very long.

"Did you come along with your parents to Maraucourt?" she asked.

"I have no parents."

"No father, no mother!"

"No."

"You're like me, but I've got a grandmother who's very good, and she'd
be still better if it wasn't for my uncles and aunts; she has to please
them. If it wasn't for them I should not have to work in the factories;
I should stay at home and help in the store, but grandmother can't do as
she wants always. So you're all alone?"

"Yes, all alone."

"Was it your own idea to leave Paris and come to Maraucourt?"

"I was told that I might find work at Maraucourt, so instead of going
further on to some relations, I stopped here. If you don't know your
relations, and they don't know you, you're not sure if you're going to get
a welcome."

"That's true. If there are kind ones, there are some mighty unkind ones
in this world."

"Yes, that is so," Perrine said, nodding her pretty head.

"Well, don't worry; you'll find work in the factories. Ten sous a day is
not much, but it's something, and you can get as much as twenty-two sous.
I'm going to ask you a question; you can answer or not, as you like. Have
you got any money?"

"A little."

"Well, if you'd like to lodge at my grandmother's, that'll cost you
twenty-eight sous a week, pay in advance."

"I can pay twenty-eight sous."

"Now, I don't promise you a fine room all to yourself at that price;
there'll be six in the same room, but you'll have a bed, some sheets and
a coverlet. Everybody ain't got that."

"I'd like it and thank you very much."

"My grandmother don't only take in lodgers who can only pay twenty-eight
sous. We've got some very fine rooms in our house. Our boarders are
employed at the factories. There's Monsieur Fabry, the engineer of the
building; Monsieur Mombleux, the head clerk, and Mr. Bendit, who has
charge of the foreign correspondence. If you ever speak to him always
call him Mr. Benndite. He's an Englishman, and he gets mad if you
pronounce his name 'Bendit.' He thinks that one wants to insult him,
just as though one was calling him 'Thief'!"

"I won't forget; besides, I know English."

"You know English! You!"

"My mother was English."

"So, so! Well, that'll be fine for Mr. Bendit, but he'd be more pleased if
you knew every language. His great stunt on Sunday is to read prayers that
are printed in twenty-five languages.