"Please spare a copper for the starving poor of Paris."

A lady, dressed in grey quilted petticoat and pretty grey and black
striped paniers, could be seen walking in the booth from time to time,
then disappearing through a partition beyond. She would emerge
again presently carrying an embroidered reticule, and would wander
round among the crowd, holding out the bag by its chain, and
repeating in tones of somewhat monotonous appeal: "For the starving
poor of Paris, if you please!"

She had fine, dark eyes, rather narrow and tending upwards at the
outer corners, which gave her face a not altogether pleasant
expression. Still, they were fine eyes, and when she went round
soliciting alms, most of the men put a hand into their breeches pocket
and dropped a coin into her embroidered reticule.

She said the word "poor" in rather a funny way, rolling the "r" at the
end, and she also said "please" as if it were spelt with a long line of
"e's," and so it was concluded that she was French and was begging
for her poorer sisters. At stated intervals during the day, the
mechanical toy was rolled into a corner, and the lady in grey stood up
on a platform and sang queer little songs, the words of which nobody
could understand.

"Il etait une bergere et ron et petit pataplon. ... "

But it all left an impression of sadness and of suppressed awe upon
the minds and susceptibilities of the worthy Richmond yokels come
with their wives or sweethearts to enjoy the fun of the fair, and gladly