constant, not an occasional, thing; otherwise, she remained very

pretty and comely. Sometimes, at night on kissing her father, she

would burst into the grief she had repressed all day, and would say

that her sole reliance, under Heaven, was on him. He always

resolutely answered: “Nothing can happen to him without my

knowledge, and I know that I can save him, Lucie.”

They had not made the round of their changed life many weeks,

when her father said to her, on coming home one evening:

“My dear, there is an upper window in the prison, to which

Charles can sometimes gain access at three in the afternoon.

When he can get to itwhich depends on many uncertainties and

incidentshe might see you in the street, he thinks, if you stood in

a certain place that I can show you. But you will not be able to see

him, my poor child, and even if you could, it would be unsafe for

you to make a sign of recognition.”

“Oh show me the place, my father, and I will go there every

day.”

From that time, in all weathers, she waited there two hours. As

the clock struck two, she was there, and at four she turned

Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics

resignedly away. When it was not too wet or inclement for her

child to be with her, they went together; at other times she was

alone; but, she never missed a single day.

It was the dark and dirty corn