her hands
being covered by red worsted mittens edged with white, bought for her
by the conductor. Her dainty Breton cap (which had been washed in Paris,
for the journey from Nantes had rumpled it) was like a halo round her
happy little face. This national cap, of the finest lawn, trimmed with
stiffened lace pleated in flat folds, deserves description, it was so
dainty and simple. The light coming through the texture and the lace
produced a partial shadow, the soft shadow of a light upon the skin,
which gave her the virginal grace that all painters seek and Leopold
Robert found for the Raffaelesque face of the woman who holds a child
in his picture of "The Gleaners." Beneath this fluted frame of light
sparkled a white and rosy and artless face, glowing with vigorous
health. The warmth of the room brought the blood to the cheeks, to the
tips of the pretty ears, to the lips and the end of the delicate nose,
making the natural white of the complexion whiter still.

"Well, are you not going to say anything? I am your cousin Sylvie, and
that is your cousin Rogron."

"Do you want something to eat?" asked Rogron.

"When did you leave Nantes?" asked Sylvie.

"Is she dumb?" said Rogron.

"Poor little dear, she has hardly any clothes," cried Adele, who
had opened the child's bundle, tied up in a handkerchief of the old
Lorrains.

"Kiss your cousin," said Sylvie.

Pierrette kissed Rogron.

"Kiss your cousin," said Rogron.

Pierrette kissed Sylvie.

"She is tired out with her journey, poor little thing; she wants to go
to sleep," said Adele.

Pierrette was overcome with a sudden and invincible aversion for her two
relatives,--a feeling that no one had ever before excited in her. Sylvie
and the maid took her up to bed in the room where Brigaut afterwards
noticed the white cotton curtain. In it was a little bed with a pole
painted blue, from which hung a calico curtain; a walnut bureau without
a marble top, a small table, a looking-glass, a very common night-table
without a door, and three chairs completed the furniture of the room.
The walls, which sloped in front, were hung with a shabby paper, blue
with black flowers. The tiled floor, stained red and polished, was icy
to the feet. There was no carpet except for a strip at the bedside. The
mantelpiece of common marble was adorned by a mirror, two candelabra in
copper-gilt, and a vulgar alabaster cup in which two pigeons, forming
handles, were drinking.

"You will be