Can Mother Genevieve be in trouble about anything?
Poor woman! All her best years were subject to such bitter trials, that she might think she had received her full share already.

Were I to live a hundred years, I should never forget the circumstances which made her known to me, and which obtained for her my respect.
It was at the time of my first settling in the faubourg.

I had noticed her empty fruit-shop, which nobody came into, and, being attracted by its forsaken appearance, I made my little purchases in it.

I have always instinctively preferred the poor shops; there is less choice in them, but it seems to me that my purchase is a sign of sympathy with a brother in poverty.

These little dealings are almost always an anchor of hope to those whose very existence is in peril--the only means by which some orphan gains a livelihood.