_ Particular sins lose their shame in some
countries. Woman in France had not the high mission and respect which
she fulfilled in his own land. Suzette was one of many children. Her
father was the cultivator of a few acres in Normandy. Her mother died as
the infant was ushered into the world. To her father and brothers she
was of an unprofitable sex, and her sisters disliked her because she
was handsomer than they. Her childhood was cheerless enough, for she had
quick instincts, and her education availed only to teach her how grand
was the world, and how confined her life. She left her home by stealth,
in the night, and alone. In the city of Cherbourg she found occupation.
She dwelt with strangers; she was lonely; her poverty and her beauty
were her sorrows. She was a girl only till her fifteenth year.
The young mother has but one city of refuge--Paris. Without friends she
passed the bitterness of reminiscence. Through the poverty of skill or
sustenance she lost her boy, and the great city lay all before her where
to choose. Luckily, in France every avenue to struggle was not closed to
her sisterhood; with us such gather only the wages of sin. It was not
there an irreparable disgrace to have fallen. For a full year she lived
purely, industriously, lonely; what adventures ensued Ralph knew
imperfectly.
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