" Over night and indoors? Monsieur, that sounds impossible... But lovely. That is what I would have too, a dog. And it would let me hug it and stroke it and lie down next to it when I'm cold. And it would never run from me. He is my friend. What is your dog like? Does he have a name?"

She holds her position, though her natural instinct is to run. Instead, she fiddles with her posy of violets, twisting their stalks this way and that.

"I do not know how it works. Why it makes me good. I just... It makes me feel better. It is like what I see in my head is not just an hallucination. It's real. It makes me forget I am a gat and a gamine and dirty and a thief and worse. Almost I forget I am the devil. I feel like an angel. It makes the bad go away."

She shrugs and laughs again, clearly embarrassed.

"I did not get shot because I was bad to Madame Ella, you know?"