"On your word? Oh! don't pretend to be ignorant. Am I hired, yes or no,
to be company for M. Xavier? Yes, am I not? Well, I am company for him.
But you? Oh! no, that is not in the bargain. And then, you know, my
little father, you are not my style."
And I burst out laughing in his face.
He turned purple; his eyes flamed with anger. But he did not think it
prudent to enter into a discussion, for which I was terribly armed. He
hastily picked up his bag, and slunk away, pursued by my laughter.
The next day, apropos of nothing, Monsieur made some gross remark to
me. I flew into a passion. Madame happened along. I became mad with
anger. The scene that ensued between us three was so frightful, so
low, that I cannot undertake to describe it. In unspeakable terms I
reproached them with all their filth and with all their infamy. I
demanded the return of the money that I had lent M. Xavier. They foamed
at the mouth. I seized a cushion, and hurled it violently at Monsieur's
head.
"Go away! Get out of here, at once, at once!" screamed Madame,
threatening to tear my face with her nails.
"I erase your name from the membership of my society; you no longer
belong to my society, lost creature, prostitute!" vociferated Monsieur,
stuffing his bag with thrusts of his fists.
Finally Madame withheld my week's wages, refused to pay the ninety
francs that I had lent M. Xavier, and obliged me to return all the rags
that she had given me.
"You are all thieves," I cried; "you are all pimps!"
And I went away, threatening them with the commissary of police and the
justice of the peace.
"Oh! you are looking for trouble? Yes, well, you shall have it,
scoundrels that you are!"
Alas! the commissary of police pretended that the affair did not
concern him. The justice of the peace advised me to let it drop. He
explained:
"In the first place, Mademoiselle, you will not be believed. And that
is as it should be. What would become of society if a servant could be
right against a master? There would be no more society, Mademoiselle.
That would be anarchy."
I consulted a lawyer; he demanded two hundred francs. I wrote to M.
Xavier; he did not answer me. Then I counted up my resources. I had
three francs fifty left--and the street pavement.