A Scandal in Paris1946

Eug?ne Fran?ois Vidocq:
Like most good men, I came from a poor but honest family - a little poorer than honest. The difference accounted for my being born in prison. Whenever poor mama expected another baby and consequently needed shelter, it was her custom to steal a loaf of bread and go to prison. She had stolen eleven loaves, served eleven sentences, and had eleven children, when to her misfortunes were added a twelfth. When poor mama went to a better world, leaving me to make the best of this one, what is more natural than that I should often return to the happy scene of my earliest childhood?