Don't cry, don't cry; you meant no harm--you did not know, and Heaven is
witness how sorely we sometimes suffer for that!"
Between her sobs the girl jerked out piteously:
"Perine come back?"
Marie looked imploringly at her husband, but he shook his head.
"Not tonight, not to-night, my child. As you go out beg for a bit of
bread from M. Plon, he is in a splendid temper, and will not refuse it.
There make haste, go!"
She took her by the shoulders and pushed her towards the door, but when
she left her outside, kissed her.
PART II.
Perine had no sooner gone than Jean came out and flung himself angrily
on a chair.
"I shall stand this no longer. I give you notice of my determination,
Marie. You have her here, I believe, solely to torment me. Figure to
yourself having to stand by helpless, and see the creature put an end to
both one's dinner and one's pipe! She is not to come here any more,
those are my orders. Do you hear?"
"Yes, I hear," said Marie quietly, "but I beg of you to change your
mind. We are badly off, I allow, yet somehow or other we can always rub
along, and this poor child is in worse plight than we are."
"Worse? Nonsense. No one can be worse off than I am. Denounced,
executed, for I assure you I felt that bullet go through my brain, saved
just by the hair of my head--"
"Such a mercy!" breathed the wife.
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