She had not known before what a good beggar she could be.

But she guessed very well what inference was drawn from her application.

On account of that shrinking delicacy, which exists side by side with aggressive brutality in masculine nature, the inquiries into her circumstances had not been pushed very far.

She had checked them by a visible compression of the lips and some display of an emotion determined to be eloquently silent.

And the men would become suddenly incurious, after the manner of their kind.