Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Tents of Wickedness There is no use in speculating, she said to herself at last. God is engaged to take care of me. I mean to do right. And with a sigh, part of relief, part of resolu tion, she stepped out into the garden and walked quickly to the wide space under the chestnuts where the crowd of sisters and children were busy arranging the booths, and in a few minutes she was as occupied as they. The air by the time the fete opened was balmy and soft, the sky blue, and the sun shining. It was the middle of May, and the garden looked its best. The public, who were admitted to the inclosure but this only day in the year, consisted of the parents and guardians of the children, and such intimate family friends as were invited by them. Brothers over nine were not allowed, and no unmarried men. This limited the profits of the poor, no doubt, but it did not seem to limit the pleasure and interest of the shy, pretty French girls just budding into womanhood, who had not as yet known any stronger social stimulant. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.