The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-15 00:00:00

TILE FEMALE FOOTPAD.

Lately, as the Countess of N. was going into
the church of St. Thomas Aquinas in Paris, she was
accosted by a young woman clothed in rags, her pale
and haggard countenance bearing ample evidence to
the severity of her mental and physical sufferings. Clad
in nasty rags, which dingily represented the trap-
pings of woe, the girl might still have been
deemed beautiful but for the sickly pale cast of
thought and premature wrinkles which furrowed
her brow. " Madame la Comtesse," she exclaimed in a
voice gentle and low as overwhelmed by shame and emo-
tion, " you are rich, good, and charitable ; I am in sor-
row and misery, have pity on me, and relieve my wants."
She whose hand was ever open to relieve the distressed,
finding that she had fork otten her purse, told the girl to
wait for her at the church-door whilst she attended
mass, and that on her return she should accompany her
to her hotel where her. wants should be relieved.
" And is not the giving alms as good a work as attend-
ing mass," replied the fair mendicant, "your prayers
will detain you for an hour, and long ere that has
elapsed I shall not have the power to fellow you, for
even now I am fainting." The Countess, shocked at
the piteous demeanour of the wretched girl, told her to
follow her to the hotel. The charitable lady and her
tattered guest forthwith proceeded to the Countess's
bedroom, when the girl bolted the door, and, drawing
from under her rags a book and a pistol, she laid the
former on the prie Dien, and presented the, latter at
the Countess, calling upon her to swear by all that was
sacred she would never reveal anything that occurred,
draw disputed t
forth
tbhy
The terrified Countess sprang to the bell, but she was
stopped by the firm grasp of the sturdy mendicant,
knew to lie imprisoned
whod. ordered her, in terms not to be misunderstood or
tstrehawnhko
bills,
their breath andh bhr.alins,
she
in tleerwritin
The notes were writing-ease
Onwthiec
there and so was the pistol, so the
Countess did not hesitate
drew forth the money, and
and the female Jack Sheppard
departed, regretting
stern. necessity which com-
pelled her to adopt so harsh a measure, but solemnly
promising that the money should be repaid as soon as
possible.
Two hours after this event, a
t young and joyous gri-
sette bounced into the apartnCrt sof an extravagant
scape-grace of a student, who dense 1 a pte, irious and
unhealthy subsistence from bills and
post obits. Tie °w-
in her arms round the student's neck, she exclaimed,
" Mon cher Auguste, this very night will wecaP
the bal- masque." "Ma chcrc Eglantine,"
replieedrt;:et
knight of the sorrowful countenance, " every cursed Jew
and money-lender is lying wait to pounce upon me in
every nook and corner of this charming city of Paris."
ews. -
" Qua le diable cmporte all J a..fil usurers," quoth
the grisette ; " I have herewithal to keep them at bay ;"
and, throwing back, his flaxen locks, the laughing girl
laid before the astonished Auguste the 6,000 francs, and
then gave the details of what she called an admirable
" farce du carnival." In spite of the prayers, ejacula-
tions, caresses, and entreaties of the pretty grisette,
Auguste hurried to his aunt, the Countess de N.,
whom he found, no ha expected, cioietod with the Com-