Her great desire had been to live till the girl was eighteen.

Then--well, then might she not perhaps leave her to the care of a husband?
At best, M.de Mauprat could not live long.

He had at last been forced to give up the little watchmaker's shop in the Vier Marchi, where for so many years, in simple independence, he had wrought, always putting by, from work done after hours, Jersey bank-notes and gold, to give Guida a dot, if not worthy of her, at least a guarantee against reproach when some great man should come seeking her in marriage.

But at last his hands trembled among the tiny wheels, and his eyes failed.

He had his dark hour by himself, then he sold the shop to a native, who thenceforward sat in the ancient exile's place; and the two brown eyes of the stooped, brown old man looked out no more from the window in the Vier Marchi: and then they all made their new home in the Place du Vier Prison.
Until she was fifteen Guida's life was unclouded.