From the age of ten, since she had earned her living at the pit, she went about the country alone in the complete liberty of the colliers' families; and if no man had possessed her at fifteen it was owing to the tardy awakening of her puberty, the crisis of which had not yet arrived.
Depuis l'âge de dix ans, depuis qu'elle gagnait sa vie a la fosse, elle courait ainsi le pays toute seule, dans la complete liberté des familles de houilleurs; et, si aucun homme ne l'avait eue, a quinze ans, c'était grâce a l'éveil tardif de sa puberté, dont elle attendait encore la crise.