She ran away from a brute of a husband, who was in the habit of beating her.

Being myself a Picard born, I was always very fond of the Artesian women, and it is only a step from Artois to Flanders.

She came crying bitterly to her godfather, my predecessor in the Rue des Lombards; she placed her two thousand florins in my establishment, which I have turned to very good account, and which bring her in ten thousand." "Bravo, Planchet!" "She is free and well off; she has a cow, a maid-servant, and old Celestin at her orders.

She mends my linen, knits my winter stockings.
She only sees me every fortnight, and seems anxious to make herself happy." "And I am very happy indeed," said Truechen, with perfect ingenuousness.
Porthos began to curl the other side of his mustache.

"The deuce!" thought D'Artagnan, "can Porthos have any intentions in that quarter ?" In the meantime, Truechen had set her cook to work, had laid the table for two more, and covered it with every possible delicacy, which converts a light supper into a substantial meal, and a meal into a regular feast.