Paul Gallico

She was an orphan, a Bretonnaise from the village of Plouharg, near St. Brieuc. Wretched though she was, some of the mystery of this mysterious land still clung to her. It manifested itself in the grace with which she walked as though still clad in the swinging peasant skirts, the gravity of her glance, her innocence and primitive mind in which for all her youth—she was only twenty-two—were dark corners of Celtic brooding. One of these was now leading her to her death.

Orphaned during the war, she had lived with a great-aunt, who had likewise died when she was but sixteen. She had then gone to St. Brieuc and secured a job cleaning the town hall, saving her money until she had sufficient to make the journey to Paris.

This was magic and Mouche had all the superstition and belief in the supernatural of the Bretonnaise.