o one following her.

After her fears had calmed down she realized that she had nothing to eat
and no money. What should she do? Instinctively she glanced at the
fields by the wayside. She saw beets, onions, cabbages, but there was
nothing there ready to eat, and besides, even if there had been ripe
melons and trees laden with fruit, what good would they have been to
her; she could not stretch out her hand to pick the fruit any more than
she could stretch it out to beg of the passersby. No, little Perrine was
not a thief, nor a beggar, nor a vagabond.

She felt very depressed. It was eventide, and in the quietness of the
twilight she realized how utterly alone she was; but she knew that she
must not give way; she felt that while there was still light she must
walk on, and by the time night fell perhaps she would have found a spot
where she could sleep in safety.

She had not gone far before she found what she thought would be the very
place. As she came to a field of artichokes she saw a man and woman
picking artichoke heads and packing them in baskets, which they piled up
in a cart that stood by the roadside. She stopped to look at them at
their work. A moment later another cart driven by a girl came up.

"So you're getting yours all in?" called out the girl.

"Should say so, and it's none too soon," replied the man. "It's no fun
sleeping here all night to watch for those rogues. I at least shall
sleep in my bed tonight."

"And what about Monneau's lot?" grinned the girl.

"Oh, Monneau's a sly dog," answered the man; "he counts on us others
watching out for his. He's not going to be here tonight. Serve him
right if he finds all his gone!"

All three laughed heartily. They were not over-anxious that Monneau
should prosper. Didn't he profit by their watch to take his own slumbers
in peace?

"That'll be a joke, eh?"

"Wait for me," said the girl. "I won't be a jiffy; then we'll go
together."

The man and the woman waited, and in a few minutes the girl had finished
her task and the two carts, laden with artichokes, went towards the
village. Perrine stood in the deserted road looking at the two fields,
which presented such a difference in appearance. One was completely
stripped of its vegetables; the other was filled with a splendid crop.
At the end of the field was a little hut made of branches where the man
who watched the field had slept. Perrine decided that she would stay
there for the night, now that she