Boss, and forgotten to notice this one. She had chosen the place well!
A little wood dipped down to the right, with a brook running beyond,
and across the brook a sudden sharp rise, crowned with a thick growth
of birches. She had played steadily as she passed through the wood and
over the stream, and only ceased when she gained the brow of the hill
and sprang like a deer down the opposite slope. No one had seen her
go, she was sure of that; and now they could never tell which way she
had turned, and would be far more likely to run back along the road.
How they would shout and scream, and how Le Boss would swear! Ah, no
more would he swear at Marie because people did not always give money,
being perhaps poor themselves, or unwilling to give to so ugly a face
as his girl's, who carried round the dish. No more! And La Patronne
would be sorry perhaps a little,--she had the good heart, La Patronne,
under all the fat,--and Old Billy, he would be too sorry, she was sure.
Poor Old Billy! it was cruel to leave him, when he had such joy of her
playing, the good old man, and a hard life taking care of the beasts,
and bearing all the blame if any of them died through hunger. But it
would have been sadder for Old Billy to see her die, Marie, and she
would have died, of course she would! To live without the Lady, a
pretty life that would be! far sooner would one go at once to the good
God, where the angels played all day, even if one were not allowed to
play oneself just at first. Afterward, of course, when they found out
how she had played down here, it would be otherwise.

Meanwhile, all these thoughts did not keep Marie from being tired, and
hungry too; and she was glad enough to see some brown roofs clustered
together at a little distance, as she turned a corner of the road. A
village! good! Here would be children, without doubt; and where there
were children, Marie was among friends. She stopped for a moment, to
push back her hair, which had fallen down in the course of her night,