She sat huddled in the darkness， young， afraid， and alone. It was
quiet in the pauper s burial ground. Beyond the encompassing rail-
ings the lofty buildings that flanked the narrow street shut off all
sound of the night-throb of Paris and the lights that went with it.
Nothing showed of the flares illuminating entrances to the crowded
theatres on the Boulevard du Temple. Oil-lamps spreading a glow
over fashionable comings and goings in the Boulevard des Italiens
did not penetrate the malodorous alleyways not far away. In the rue
de Richelieu， which was no more than a stone s throw over the roof-
tops， no echo came of the clatter of the hooves on the cobbles by
high-stepping carriage horses in the frosty January night. In that year
of 1843 the dense labyrinth of ancient properties and the maze of
crooked streets that made up most of the city were much the same as
they had been over previous centuries.
Nothing disturbed the immediate stillness in the child s vicinity ex-
cept the shiver of grass around the newly turned patch of earth， and
sometimes the scuttling of rats in the garbage that littered the comers
and gutters nearby. It was the fifth consecutive night that Louise Vet-
net had kept her vigil there. She was ten years old， and all she had to
defend herself and the place she guarded was a rusty kitchen knife.
Fear kept her from tears. A blurring of her vision could prevent
her from sighting any intruder before it was too late. She had braced
herself in terror countless times during each of the previous nights，
but those unidentifiable figures who took a shortcut along the path
through the burial ground had not seen her in the velvet shadows，
and whatever nefarious business had them abroad in the night hours，
it was not for the purpose of disturbing the recently buried.
Others who passed by， unaware of her presence， at the earlier
hour of eight o clock， were the workers who came from a building
farther down the unlit back street. These were a crowd of grisettes，
the seamstresses who were employed by a certain Madame Camille，
AL
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