the people, the people take it for themselves! And if a man deals
ill by a woman, he has murdered her as surely as if he had put a
knife through her;--and 'tis but even payment when he gets the knife
into himself. Things in this life are too easy for men and too hard
for women; men make the laws for their own convenience, and never a
thought of us at all in the making. They are a selfish lot!"

The porter laughed carelessly, and having lit his pipe to his
satisfaction went his way.

A great many more customers now came to Martine's stall, and for
upwards of an hour there was shrill argument and driving of bargains
till she had pretty well cleared her counter of all its stock. Then
she sat down again and looked to right and left of the market-place
for any sign of the Patoux children returning with her little son,
but there was not a glimpse of them anywhere.

"I wonder what they are doing!" she thought--"And I wonder what sort
of a Cardinal it is they have taken the child to see! These great
princes of the Church care nothing for the poor,--the very Pope
allows half Italy to starve while he shuts himself up with his
treasures in the Vatican;--what should a great Cardinal care for my
poor little Fabien! If the stories of the Christ were true, and one
could only take the child to Him, then indeed there might be a
chance of cure!--but it is all a lie,--and the worst of the lie is
that it would give us all so much comfort and happiness if it were
only true! It is like holding out a rope to a drowning man and
snatching it away again. And when the rope goes, the sooner one
sinks under the waves the better!"