Eponine shakes her head. “Before the prison, we had a room - my Ma and Pa, and Azelma. But we all to prison and when we are back, who has the money? Ma is dead. Azelma? I do not know. She is too stupid to be alive still. And my Pa? He shall kill me if he finds me again. I should rather sleep in a ditch than go to him. He didn’t even care to tell me they were out.”

She grins ruefully. “Some days, it is three, four of no food. Grass only fills a little, and I have eaten mud, soil - anything - just to have a weight in my belly. If no one will give me a sous, then how can I eat? Some days, even for a crust that has been discarded, I will beg. It is not unheard of to do so where I am from.”

She wraps her thin arms about her knees. “Someone told me they’ll send us back from here soon. I would rather be a prisoner here forever than go back.”