"No, I meant alive. Before, you know? I have seen such executions. Women like me, we are stripped and beaten in prison, if we are to die. If we are not, stripped and beaten, yes, but not tied to the stake outside. That is cruel, I think. Some are hanged, but I think if you have a bit of money for the privilege, or someone to make a fuss. Me, no one would care. No one would know, so they did as they liked, you know?"
She's not looking for sympathy: she speaks quite casually.

Still, she stops when she realises that Joscelin probably isn't interested at all, in the fate of beggar girls and prostitutes in French prisons two hundred years ago. Her eyes narrow as she recognises the patronising condescension in his voice, and she scowls.

"I am not stupid, you know? I know how to behave with humans."