“Oh! this will never do,” said the childish voice; “we mustn’t cry, you know.  The boys always said it was like a baby to cry; and father used to say, ‘Courage, Minima!’ Perhaps, when all our money is gone, we shall find a great big purse full of gold; or else a beautiful French prince will see you, and fall in love with you, and take us both to his palace, and make you his princess; and we shall all grow up till we die.”

I laughed at the oddity of this childish climax in spite of the heaviness of my heart and the springing of my tears.  Minima’s fresh young fancies were too droll to resist, especially in combination with her shrewd, old-womanish knowledge of many things of which I was ignorant.

“I should know exactly what to do if we were in London,” she resumed; “we could take our things to the pawnbroker’s, and get lots of money for them.  That is what poor people do.  Mrs. Foster has pawned all her rings and brooches.  It is quite easy to do, you know; but perhaps there are no pawn-shops in France.”

This incidental mention of Mrs. Foster had sent my thoughts and fears fluttering toward a deep, unutterable dread, which was lurking under all my other cares.  Should I be driven by the mere stress of utter poverty to return to my husband?  There must be something wrong in a law which bound me captive, body and soul, to a man whose very name had become a terror to me, and to escape whom I was willing to face any difficulties, any distresses.  But all my knowledge of the law came from his lips, and he would gladly deceive me.  It might be that I was suffering all these troubles quite needlessly.  Across the darkness of my prospects flushed a thought that seemed like an angel of light.  Why should I not try to make my way to Mrs. Dobree, Martin’s mother, to whom I could tell my whole history, and on whose friendship and protection I could rely implicitly?  She would learn for me how far the law would protect me.  By this time Kate Daltrey would have quitted the Channel Islands, satisfied that I had eluded her pursuit.  The route to the Channel Islands was neither long nor difficult, for at Granville a vessel sailed directly for Jersey, and we were not more than thirty miles from Granville.  It was a distance that we could almost walk.  If Mrs. Dobree could not help me, Tardif would take Minima into his house for a time, and the child could not have a happier home.  I could count upon my good Tardif doing that.  These plans were taking shape in my brain, when I heard a voice calling softly under the window.  I opened the casement, and, leaning out, saw the welcome face of Rosalie, the milk-woman.

“Will you permit me to come in?” she inquired.

“Yes, yes, come in,” I said, eagerly.

She entered, and saluted us both with much ceremony.  Her clumsy wooden sabots clattered over the bare boards, and the wings of her high Norman cap flapped against her sallow cheeks.  No figure could have impressed upon me more forcibly the unwelcome fact that I was in great straits in a foreign land.  I regarded her with a vague kind of fear.