It is true that I had to sell something to get these three francs.

But, my dear child, render me this service, I pray you." Pierre, with heart oppressed, stood contemplating the old priest, whose locks were quite white, whose full lips spoke of infinite kindliness, and whose eyes shone clear and childlike in his round and smiling face.

And he bitterly recalled the story of that lover of the poor, the semi-disgrace into which he had fallen through the sublime candour of his charitable goodness.

His little ground-floor of the Rue de Charonne, which he had turned into a refuge where he offered shelter to all the wretchedness of the streets, had ended by giving cause for scandal.

His _naivete_ and innocence had been abused; and abominable things had gone on under his roof without his knowledge.