I knew that I should soon be able to
make five or six francs a day; and this prospect was pleasant
enough to make me forget the present, well-nigh intolerable as it
sometimes was. During the last winter that I spent with my
employers, their orders were so numerous and pressing that they
worked on Sundays as well as on week days, and it was with
difficulty that I obtained an hour twice a month to pay a visit to
the good sisters who had cared for me in my childhood. I had
never failed in this duty, and indeed it had now become my only
pleasure. My employer's conscience compelled him to pay me a
trifle occasionally for the additional toil he imposed upon me,
and the few francs I thus received I carried to the poor children
at the asylum. After living all my life on public charity, I was
able to give in my turn; and this thought gratified my pride, and
increased my importance in my own eyes. I was nearly fifteen, and
my term of apprenticeship had almost expired, when one bright day
in March, I saw one of the lay sisters of the asylum enter the
work-room. She was in a flutter of excitement; her face was
crimson, and she was so breathless from her hurried ascent of the
stairs that she gasped rather than said to me: 'Quick! come--
follow me! Some one is waiting for you!' 'Who?--where?'--'Make
haste! Ah! my dear child, if you only knew----' I hesitated; but
Madame Greloux pushed me toward the door, exclaiming: 'Be off, you
little stupid!' I followed the sister without thinking of changing
my dress--without even removing the kitchen apron I wore.
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