And the threat was not an idle one.  That very afternoon the same lamentable scene was repeated; and so it went on every morning and every day.  Mrs. Hilaire had friends in the house, who took up the quarrel, and fell upon Henrietta whenever she appeared.  They lay in wait for her by turns; and she no sooner ventured upon the staircase than the shouts began; so that the unfortunate girl no longer dared leave the house.  Early in the morning, as soon as the door was opened, she ran out to buy her daily provisions; then, running up swiftly, she barricaded herself in her chamber, and never stirred out again.

Surely, there was no lack of desire on her part to leave the house.  But where should she go?  Besides, the unknown frightened her; might it not have still greater terrors in reserve for her?

At last she was entirely without money.

In July her rent had cost her a hundred francs, and she had been compelled to buy a dress in place of her merino dress, which was falling to pieces.  In the first days of August she was at the end of her resources.  Nor would she have been able to make them last so long, even if she had not, ever since that evening at Mrs. Hilaire’s, done entirely without the expensive board of Mrs. Chevassat.  Even this rupture, at which Henrietta had at first rejoiced, became now to her a source of overwhelming trouble.  She had still a few things that she might sell,—­a brooch, her cashmere, her watch, and her ear-rings; but she did not know how and to whom she could sell them.

All the stories by which the wicked woman down stairs had tried to frighten her from going herself to the pawnbroker came back to her mind; and she saw herself, at the first attempt, arrested by the police, examined, and carried back to her father, handed over to Sarah and Sir Thorn, and—­

Still want pressed her hard; and at last, after long hesitation, one evening, at dark, she slipped out to find a purchaser.  What she was looking for was one of those dark little shops in which men lie in wait for their prey, whom the police always suspects, and carefully watches.  She found one such as she desired.  An old woman with spectacles on her nose, without even asking her name, and evidently taking her to be a thief, gave her, for her brooch and her ear-rings, a hundred and forty francs.

What was this sum of money?  A nothing; Henrietta understood that perfectly.  And hence, overcoming all her reserve and her reluctance, she vowed she would try every thing in her power to obtain work.

She kept her word, sustained by a secret hope of triumphing, by dint of energy and perseverance, over fate itself.  She went from store to store, from door to door, so to say, soliciting employment, as she would have asked for alms, promising to do any thing that might be wanted, in return merely for her board and lodging.  But it was written that every thing should turn against her.  Her beauty, her charms, her distinguished appearance, her very manner of speaking, were so many obstacles in her way.  Who could think of engaging a girl as a servant, who looked like a duchess?  So that all her prayers only met with cold faces, shrugging of shoulders, and ironical smiles.  She was refused everywhere.  It is true that now and then some gallant clerk replied to her application by a declaration of love.