Charlotte Niese

“ We've all got to be put under ground some day, but it's queer just the same what a difference there is about dying. I'm old now, and that time when I went through Paris in the early morning with a rag-bag on my back, and my Baron with just such another one, was the first time in my life that I ever thought of death, and it isn't a thought for a boy. It was because the carts were passing us with the aristocrats who were going to have their heads chopped off. ”

“ Later on, though, he decided we had better part, for I had grown too free in my manners in Paris, He gave me a good present and if I hadn't had all sorts of bad luck I might be a rich man now. But it's always so, there's no 'égalité' in this country, and if we don't have a good revolution it will never be any different. Though it doesn't always turn out well for everyone even then, The French grocer who did such a good business with the King's wine was one of those who could never get enough aristocrats killed ”

“ Now she looked like a real boy, and like two boys we ran to one of the many prisons where the aristocrats were, I With a basket and she with a basket, with bread and writing-paper, and we took them to the wife of one of the gaolers who earned a lot of money by selling them. The aristocrats were always writing letters, which shows what do-nothings they were; for an honest man has a tongue to talk with, and doesn't need to make marks on paper to kill time. ”

“ We went to the great prison two or three times; I stayed outside because I was afraid, but Mamseli Manon went in and talked with the gaolers. What more she did I don't know; I waited outside and thought of my confirmation suit, for the little Mamseli wasn't very careful of it. She had had it three days and took it home with her, and I never knew where it was when she was in the shop with her ordinary clothes on. It was always dark when we went out, then she'd come for me and we'd start* I must say she always brought me some* thing, a drop of wine or a bit of cake. ”