"I gave her two napoleons, and she eyed me with gratitude and respect at the same time, but also with that uneasy look of a girl who asks herself: 'What does this tool expect for it?'
"The whole affair began to amuse me, and I must confess that I was rather taken with her, for she had a beautiful figure and complexion, and I was hoping that the Commissary would not come directly, when there was a loud rapping at the door.
"She sat up with a start, and grew so pale that one would have said she was about to faint.
"'What a set of pigs, to come and interrupt people like this!' she muttered between her teeth; while I affected the most complete calm.
"'Somebody who has made a mistake in the room, my dear,' I said.
"But this noise increased, and suddenly I heard a man's voice saying clearly and authoritatively:
"'Open the door, in the name of the law!'
"On hearing that, one would have thought that she had received a shock from an electric battery, by the nimble manner in which she jumped out of bed; and quickly putting on her stays and her dress anyhow, she endeavored to discover a way out in every corner of the room, like a wild beast, trying to escape from its cage. I thought that she was going to throw herself out of the window, so I seized hold of her to prevent her.
"The unfortunate creature acted like a madwoman, and when she felt my arm round her waist, she cried in a hoarse voice:
"'I see it ... You have sold me ... You thought that I should expose myself.... Oh! you filthy brutes—you filthy brutes!'