"Sometimes I am very sad," she sobbed. "That is why I was so glad to see you. Before you came, oh, he made me work so hard!"
"Do not cry, Zelie," said Philippe, "but tell me all about it. I will protect you."
"DO NOT CRY, ZELIE"
Philippe suddenly felt very brave. He felt like one of those knights he had seen in the film. He felt like a hero out of a fairy tale. He knew that he was only a boy, but he had great courage, and he wanted to protect Zelie.
"We two will escape," he promised the girl. "You'll see. Now tell me everything."
Then Zelie told Philippe that Tom was not really her father.
"My mother and father died when I was a baby," she told him, "and this man is my uncle. Oh, he is a very bad man, and he has made me steal, and if he ever should catch us trying to escape—oh, oh!"
The poor little girl again began to sob.