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The Mysteries of Paris: Slasher

He opens his narrative with a scene in the slums of Paris, where' Fleur-de-Marie, a beautiful girl of the streets, is being viciously attacked by the Slasher, a brute of the underworld. A trivial quarrel between the two has arisen and the man is about to strike this helpless creature when suddenly a stranger intervenes and by superior strength and wit lays low the assailant. The new-comer is a M. Rudolph, who styles himself a painter of fans. Although poorly garbed and speaking the jargon of the pavements, we speedily realize that he is something other than he pretends; and in this supposition we are soon justified, for presently we learn that in truth M. Rudolph is no other personage than his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Gerolstein in disguise. The Slasher, however, does not know this, and neither does his pretty companion, and we soon find the three cronies seated amiably at a cafe table, relating for one another's amusement the stories of their past lives. Rudolph has little to say. He is an artisan, he declares. The Slasher frankly admits himself to be an escaped convict who has served in the galleys for murder; but with the inconsistency of human nature he announces that while he has no scruples against murder, he will not steal. Fleur-de-Marie, or Goualeuse, as her comrades term her, is a sixteen-year-old waif who has never known any parent save Screech Owl, a cruel woman from whom she had fled when a child; nor has she had any home save prison walls and the haunts of vice. Nevertheless, despite her vile surroundings, she has kept her soul untainted and is essentially pure of heart, being the victim of environment and circumstances rather than its votary.