Bah!" he added with a snarl, "this is a place for dogs and not for human folk." "If you are not satisfied, mon vieux," retorted Heron curtly, "you can send in your resignation when you like.

There are plenty who will be glad of the place." The ex-cobbler gave another surly growl and expectorated on the floor in the direction where stood the child.
"Little vermin," he said, "he is more trouble than man or woman can bear." The boy in the meanwhile seemed to take but little notice of the vulgar insults put upon him by his guardian.

He stood, a quaint, impassive little figure, more interested apparently in de Batz, who was a stranger to him, than in the three others whom he knew.

De Batz noted that the child looked well nourished, and that he was warmly clad in a rough woollen shirt and cloth breeches, with coarse grey stockings and thick shoes; but he also saw that the clothes were indescribably filthy, as were the child's hands and face.

The golden curls, among which a young and queenly mother had once loved to pass her slender perfumed fingers, now hung bedraggled, greasy, and lank round the little face, from the lines of which every trace of dignity and of simplicity had long since been erased.
There was no look of the martyr about this child now, even though, mayhap, his small back had often smarted under his vulgar tutor's rough blows; rather did the pale young face wear the air of sullen indifference, and an abject desire to please, which would have appeared heart-breaking to any spectator less self-seeking and egotistic than was this Gascon conspirator.
Madame Simon had called him to her while her man and the citizen Heron were talking, and the child went readily enough, without any sign of fear.