" "Mother, mother, speak to me. Oh !
do not leave an unprotected." AO re
sponse answered her wild pleading, and
Cosette Baudot realized that she was
alone with tbe dead. After tbe funeral
Cosette rented a little room, and was
never seen in the gay streets of Paris,
save at dusk, when she went to carry
borne her work to those who gave her
employment. Her room was situated in
tbe fifth story of a house that overlooked
the garden of the Count de Presval. To
admire tbe flowers and inhale their per
fume was Cosette 'a only pleasure, and
through the' long summer hours she
could be seen seated at her task. ,
t One evening as she was leaning upon
the window sill watching the birds flit
from branch to branch, and lost in
melancholy thought, she was awakened
from her reverie by hearing the sound
of a delightful .strain of music, and
through the wiudows that led from the
drawing-room of the hotel de Presval
be saw persons dancing, and a feeling
almost akin to envy entered her breast
to witness the happiness which con
trasted so painfully with the sadness of
her tiny home. At length, weary with
work, and lulled by the strains of tbe
music, her head sank upon the sill of
the open casement and she slept, little
dreaming that she had that evening been
observedfor the first time bv Henry de
Presval. "
The Count de Presval was a young
aud remarkably handsome man, pos
sessing all the pride and arrogance of
high birtb. He was a member of the
Jockey Club, and acknowledged by all
his gay and dissolute companions to be
one of tbe most successful men with
women.
