l I don't think my cousins mean to be cruel; but it is their
way always to scold, and it seems that I have no right to leave
them. My cousin Rogron is my guardian. One day when I wanted to
run away because I could not bear it, and told them so, my cousin
Sylvie said the gendarmes would go after me, for the law was my
master. Oh! I know now that cousins cannot take the place of
father or mother, any more than the saints can take the place of
God.

My poor Jacques, what do you suppose I could do with your money?
Keep it for our journey. Oh! how I think of you and Pen-Hoel, and
the big pong,--that's where we had our only happy days. I shall
have no more, for I feel I am going from bad to worse. I am very
ill, Jacques. I have dreadful pains in my head, and in my bones,
and back, which kill me, and I have no appetite except for horrid
things,--roots and leaves and such things. Sometimes I cry, when I
am all alone, for they won't let me do anything I like if they
know it, not even cry. I have to hide to offer my tears to Him to
whom we owe the mercies which we call afflictions. It must have
been He who gave you the blessed thought to come and sing the
marriage song beneath my window. Ah! Jacques, my cousin heard you,
and she said I had a lover. If you wish to be my lover, love me
well. I promise to love you always, as I did in the past, and to
be
Your faithful servant,
Pierrette Lorrain.

You will love me always, won't you?

She had brought a crust of bread from the kitchen, in which she now made
a hole for the letter, and fastened it like a weight to her string. At
midnight, having opened her window with extreme caution, she lowered the
letter with the crust, which made no noise against either the wall
of the house or the blinds. Presently she felt the string pulled by
Brigaut, who broke it and then crept softly away. When he reached the
middle of the square she could see him indistinctly by the starlight;
but he saw her quite clearly in the zone of light thrown by the candle.
The two children stood thus for over an hour, Pierrette making him
signs to go, he starting, she remaining, he coming back to his post, and
Pierrette again signing that he must leave her. This was repeated till
the child closed her window, went to bed, and blew out the candle. Once
in bed she fell asleep, happy in heart though suffering in body,--she
had Brigaut's letter under her pillo