was about to do, I went straight to the Prefecture of Police. It was not
yet very late, and the Prefect was still in his _bureau_. I entered his
presence, told him my story, and demanded permission to put on male
attire, and assume a masculine name, in order to obtain the means of
subsistence. He heard me respectfully, treated me kindly, and advised me
to ponder well before I took a step so unusual and unseemly. But I was
firm. Seeing my determination, he granted me a written permission.

Early next morning I took what remained of my feminine wardrobe and
hastened to the Marché de Vieux Linge, (old clothes market,) which was
not far distant from my place of abode. Built on the site of the ancient
Temple, the princely residence of the Knights Templar of old, and in
later times the prison of Louis XVI. previous to his execution--this
vast market, with its eighteen hundred and eighty-eight stalls, hung
with the cast-off garments of both sexes, and of every age, condition
and clime, presents the appearance of a miniature city. Men's apparel,
women's apparel, garments for children of all sizes, boots and shoes,
hats and bonnets, tawdry finery of every description, sheets and
blankets, carpets, tattered and stained, military accouterments, swords
and belts, harness, old pots and kettles, and innumerable other
articles, attract attention in the different stalls. There, on every
side, sharp-faced and shrill-voiced dealers haggle with timid customers
over garments more or less decayed. There the adroit thief finds a ready
market for the various articles he has procured from chamber and entry,
or purloined from the pockets of the unwary. There the petted lady's
maid disposes of the rich robe which her careless mistress has given
her, and the Parisian grisette, with the money her nimble fingers have
earned, purchases it to adorn her neat and pretty form for the _Bal paré
et masqué_, to which her lover takes her, at Belleville or Montmartre.
In yonder stall hangs a tattered coat which once belonged to a marquis,