“Oh, pardon, pardon, _chère_ mademoiselle! It is because I am so unhappy. I think I shall die of grief. Grandpapa! I am come to ask you upon my knees to have a little pity upon us. Oh, _ma bonne, douce, gentille demoiselle_, help me! perhaps he will hear you. He is so rich, it would be so easy for him to do it. Grandpapa, if you will help us, I will be your slave, I will never complain any more; I will do anything; I will never ask to go out, nor for any toilet, nor for pleasure. _Mon Dieu!_ he turns away his head! he will not even listen. Oh, _mes chères demoiselles_, help me! He is so rich--what would it do to him? He would never feel it. We should all be happy and pray to God for him--and he, he would never feel it at all!” “How dare you say I am rich! Do not believe her, mademoiselle; she is talking of things she knows nothing about. _Petite sotte!_ you had better get up and go home, and think of your duty a little.” “Here is my duty, _grandpère_,” said poor Blanchette, on her knees. “Oh, help me, _mes bonnes demoiselles!_ He does not care for God, nor for his children; but he cares for his _locataires_. If Baptiste goes away, his mother will be ruined, and he will be lost to me, and I shall die. Oh, my poor Baptiste! he never was wicked, only foolish a little, like all the young men; and he knows better, a great deal better now. Grandpapa, if you will only be kind, if you will do what we ask you, we will pray God for you on our knees every day, as Ursule does. Oh, mademoiselle, Ursule is a saint! she prays for him just the same as if he were the kindest; and so will I. And when you die, which cannot be long, for you are old, you will find the advantage--God will listen to you because you have listened to us. He will not remember the wicked things you have done, nor how hard you have been, nor----” “This is something which is admirable,” said the old man, grinning more horribly than ever. “Mademoiselle, my granddaughter is of opinion that I am wicked, that I am hard, that I am old and will shortly die. _Bien, très-bien!_ It is to please me she says all these pretty things. _Va, petite imbécile!_” He put out his foot furiously to push the kneeling girl away. But Janey, who had been standing by listening all this time in unwonted silence, looking on with very curious eyes, investigating the strange chapter in human affairs thus exhibited to her, stepped in to the rescue.