"But here they always beat us!"
"They beat us because we listen more to Martial than to them."
"He is so good to us."
"He is good, he is good, I do not deny; so I love him well. They do not dare to harm us before him. He takes us out to walk, it is truer but that is all; he never gives us anything."
"Brother, he has nothing; what he earns he gives to our mother for board."
"Nicholas has something. I am sure that if we were to listen to him and mother, he would not treat us so; he would give us fine things, like to-day; he would no longer suspect us; we should have money, like Tortillard."
"But we should have to steal, and that would cause brother Martial so much sorrow!"
"Can't help that!"
"Oh, Francois! Besides, if they caught us, we should go to prison."
"In prison, or shut up all day in a shop, is the same thing. Besides, the lame man said they amused them—selves so much in prison."