She was the impure Joan of Arc of the public streets.

Outraged love had plunged her into disorder, and the vice, at which she herself blushed, only made her thirst for vengeance.

In destroying the aristocrats she fancied she purified her honour, and washed out her shame in blood.
She was born at the village of Mericourt, near Liege, of a family of wealthy farmers, and had received a finished education.

At the age of seventeen her singular loveliness had attracted the attention of a young _seigneur_, whose chateau was close to her residence.

Beloved, seduced, and deserted, she had fled from her father's roof and taken refuge in England, from whence, after a residence of some months, she proceeded to France.