“Time went by, and still I did not find that famous place.  The board was expensive, too, for my scanty means; and I determined to leave.  I started in quest of new lodgings, followed by a porter, carrying my trunk; but as I was crossing the Boulevard, not getting quick enough out of the way of a handsome private carriage which was coming at full trot, I was knocked down, and trampled under the horses’s feet.”

Without allowing Maxence to interrupt her,

“I had lost consciousness,” went on Mlle. Lucienne.  “When I came to my senses, I was sitting in a drugstore; and three or four persons were busy around me.  I had no fracture, but only some severe contusions, and a deep cut on the head.

“The physician who had attended me requested me to try and walk; but I could not even stand on my feet.  Then he asked me where I lived, that I might be taken there; and I was compelled to own that I was a poor servant out of place, without a home or a friend to care for me.

“‘In that case,’ said the doctor to the druggist, ’we must send her to the hospital.’

“And they sent for a cab.

“In the mean time, quite a crowd had gathered outside, and the conduct of the person who was in the carriage that had run over me was being indignantly criticised.  It was a woman; and I had caught a glimpse of her at the very moment I was falling under the horses’ feet.  She had not even condescended to get out of her carriage; but, calling a policeman, she had given him her name and address, adding, loud enough to be heard by the crowd, ’I am in too great a hurry to stop.  My coachman is an awkward fellow, whom I shall dismiss as soon as I get home.  I am ready to pay any thing that may be asked.’

“She had also sent one of her cards for me.  A policeman handed it to me; and I read the name, Baronne de Thaller.

“‘That’s lucky for you,’ said the doctor.  ’That lady is the wife of a very rich banker; and she will be able to help you when you get well.’

“The cab had now come.  I was carried into it; and, an hour later, I was admitted at the hospital, and laid on a clean, comfortable bed.

“But my trunk!—­my trunk, which contained all my things, all I had in the world, and, worse still, all the money I had left.  I asked for it, my heart filled with anxiety.  No one had either seen or heard of it.  Had the porter missed me in the crowd? or had he basely availed himself of the accident to rob me?  This was hard to decide.

“The good sisters promised that they would have it looked after, and that the police would certainly be able to find that man whom I had engaged near the intelligence-office.  But all these assurances failed to console me.  This blow was the finishing one.  I was taken with fever; and for more than two weeks my life was despaired of.  I was saved at last:  but my convalescence was long and tedious; and for over two months I lingered with alternations of better and of worse.