Josephine is a young woman who comes to Senlis to be a nanny. She is thought to have a good character, although she is hated by two of the cousins - the Marias, who believe something is off about her. Josephine spends her days washing diapers, but at night she escapes from the bathroom window to spend time with non-commissioned soldiers. One night she is seen by her employer, standing on the rail of a bridge, threatening to kill herself by leaping into water that is only two feet deep - and therefore not very threatening. This loud display attracts the ire of the neighbors, who shout at her to kill herself if she wants, but silently, so that no one else is disturbed. This shocking incident is dismissed by the household because there are not many girls willing to be nannies in Senlis. But then it is discovered that Josephine is still going out in the night, so she is sent away to her mother's house by the Marias. Despite this 'banishment,' she returns to Senlis again, and is seen with the coal man and the sergeant, which makes the Marias both prideful and envious. At a party hosted by the Verdeaus, festivities come to an abrupt end as a very pregnant Josephine stands by the window and screams that a man has committed suicide. People hurry to her side and find that it is the sergeant with whom she was seen. Josephine swears that she is carrying his child and told him as much, to which he apparently replied that he would rather kill himself than marry her. It is later found that the revolver that caused his death was purchased by Josephine herself, and she is brought to trial, where she plays the role of a bereaved widow. After much publicity and theatrical behaviour, she is acquitted - for no one can dispute the argument that the sergeant might perhaps have taken the revolver from her and used it on himself. The jealous Marias are distressed at this outcome, and Josephine eventually marries the coal man, gives the baby to her mother, and leaves within two weeks to exploit her newfound fame in Paris.