"Ah! it is you, sir. These kind ladies have told me all. You have saved
my life." Then, shaking her head, she added,--

"You have rendered me a sad service, sir."

She uttered these words so simply, but in a tone of such harrowing
grief, that Papa Ravinet was overcome.

"Unhappy child!" he exclaimed, "you do not think of trying it over
again?"

She made no answer. It was as good as if she had said, Yes.

"Why, you must be mad!" said the old man, excited almost beyond control.
"Only twenty years old, and give up life! That has never been done
before. You are suffering now; but you can hardly imagine what
compensation Providence may have in store for you hereafter"--

She interrupted him by a gesture, and said,--

"There was no future for me, sir, when I sought refuge in death."

"But"--

"Oh, don't try to convince me, sir! What I did, I had to do. I felt how
life was leaving me, and I only wished to shorten the agony. I had not
eaten any thing for three days when I lit that charcoal. Even to get the
charcoal, I had to risk a falsehood, and cheat the woman who let me have
it in credit. And yet God knows I was not wanting in courage. I would