A Chambermaid's Diary

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nce the plays that can be made on such a name, and the jokes to which it is bound to give rise. As for their Christian names, they are, perhaps, more

. It is not delightful. But, to be just, I must say that I have never met such a chattering jade. If the dealers of whom my masters buy

view of the forgeries, abuses of confidence, thefts, and crimes of all sorts, that he had committed, was deemed a very light sentence. While he was serving his time at Gaillon, he died. But he had taken care to put asi

service had the right to send a substitute. They applied to an agency or to a Monsieur who, in consideration of a premium varying from one to two thousand francs, according to the risks at the time, found them a poor devil, who consented to take their place in the regiment for seven years, and, in case of war, to die for them. Thus was carried on

-Roy, substitute justice of the peace, councillor-general, president of the board of vestrymen, treasurer of the charity bureau, decorated, and leaving, in addition to the Priory, which he had bought for nothing, twelve hundred thousand francs, of which six hundred thousand went to Madame,-

no agreements save those that are written and signed, one must keep an eye on them, and in business affairs never open the door for any dispute whatever. They immediately take advantage of it, to avoid payment, especially with the little dealers who cannot afford the costs of

they could take something from the beggar's sack,

by way of a mon

te,-what? Bread, my dear young woman. And not first-class bread at that, not even white bread. No, workman's bread. Is it not shameful,-people as rich as they are? Why, one day the w

organizes, administers everything. Madame attends to the stable, to the yard, to the garden, to the cellar, and to the wood-house, and is sure to find something amiss everywhere. Never do things go to her liking, and she continually pretends that they are being robbed. What an eye she has! It is inconceivable. They play her no tricks, be sure, for she knows them all. She pays the bills, collects the dividends and rents, and makes the bargains. She has the devices of an old bookkeeper, the indelicacies of a corrupt process-server, the ingenious strategy of a usurer. It is incredible. Of course, she holds the purse, and ferociously; and

usand-franc bills. Have you change for a thousan

ven his letter-paper Madame keeps locked in a closet, of which she

amount of paper. To whom, then, can

ows himself to be led in this way by such a shrew. For no one is ignorant of the fact-indeed, Madame shouts it from the house-top-that Monsieur an

onsieur so good and so cowardly toward a woman who denies him not only

msy excuses, to not very dignified loans, the discovery of which by Madame brings on terrible scenes,-quarrels that often last for months. Then Monsieur is seen going off through the fields, walking, walking, like a madman, mak

res is even greater than their contempt for them. In spite of their criminal uselessness, of their social wrong-doing, in spite of all that they crush under the weight of their hideous million, this million none the less surrounds them with a halo of respectability, and almost of glory. The people bow lower to them t

something else very beautiful,-the Lanlaires, who possess a million and l

s; I, who owe to it my sorrows, my vices, my hatreds, the bitterest of my humiliations, and my impossible dreams, and the perpetual torment of my life,-well, as soon as I find myself in presence of a rich man, I cannot help looking upon him as an exceptional and beautiful being, as a

masters. It was drizzling. The sky was as dirty as the soul of this dealer in pinchbeck. I slipped along the slimy pavement of the street, and, furious against the haberdasher and against my masters

ou! I had seen everything but this

le indeed! And her

difficulty that I can obtain an entrance. God knows what she does in there for hours and hours! This evening, unable to r

c,

is th

ich one would like to force back

I, Ma

do you

do the dres

y. And come only wh

owder them, to rub their feet with pumice-stone, to perfume their breasts, to oxygenize their hair, to know them, in short, from the tips of their slippers to the peak of their chignon, to see them all naked. In this way they become for you something else than a mistress, almost a friend or an accomplice, often a slave. One inevitably becomes the confidant of a heap of thi

privacy, even among those who, in society, pass for the most reserved and the most strict, and whose virtue is sup

ions to hope for. I shall do stupid housework, wearisome sewing, and nothing else. Ah! when I remember the places where I have served, that make

as starting for a hunt. Monsieur looked at

re you getting accu

s a mania with

know yet,

ith eff

is he getting a

Monsieur takes a joke well. M

, Célestine. You must ge

for boldness. A

onsieur,-with

is eyes shone like two coals. But Madame appeared at the top of the

lon, I heard Madame saying to Monsieur,

miliarity wit

dame's servants Monsieur