"No, my child; but why do you ask?"
"Really and truly?" said the artless girl.
"You have nothing to fear from this lady," said the Italian woman.
"She is an angel."
"It is because my good old boy is afraid of being caught by Samanon.
He is hiding, and I wish he could be free--"
"Why?"
"On! then he would take me to Bobino, perhaps to the Ambigu."
"What a delightful creature!" said the Baroness, kissing the girl.
"Are you rich?" asked Atala, who was fingering the Baroness' lace
ruffles.
"Yes, and No," replied Madame Hulot. "I am rich for dear little girls
like you when they are willing to be taught their duties as Christians
by a priest, and to walk in the right way."
"What way is that?" said Atala; "I walk on my two feet."
"The way of virtue."
Atala looked at the Baroness with a crafty smile.
"Look at madame," said the Baroness, pointing to the stove-fitter's
wife, "she has been quite happy because she was received into the
bosom of the Church. You married like the beasts that perish."
"I?" said Atala. "Why, if you will give me as much as Daddy Vyder
gives me, I shall be quite happy unmarried again. It is a grind.--Do
you know what it is to--?"
"But when once you are united to a man as you are," the Baroness put
in, "virtue requires you to remain faithful to him."
"Till he dies," said Atala, with a knowing flash. "I shall not have to
wait long. If you only knew how Daddy Vyder coughs and blows.
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