at its foot. Delobelle did not see Risler at
his feet.

When, by chance, the great man deigned to notice his presence, he had a
certain air of stooping down to him to listen, and to smile at his words
as at a child's; or else he would amuse himself by dazzling him with
stories of actresses, would give him lessons in deportment and the
addresses of outfitters, unable to understand why a man who earned so
much money should always be dressed like an usher at a primary
school. Honest Risler, convinced of his inferiority, would try to earn
forgiveness by a multitude of little attentions, obliged to furnish all
the delicacy, of course, as he was the constant benefactor.

Among these three households living on the same floor, little Chebe,
with her goings and comings, formed the bond of union.

At all times of day she would slip into the workroom of the Delobelles,
amuse herself by watching their work and looking at all the insects,
and, being already more coquettish than playful, if an insect had lost
a wing in its travels, or a humming-bird its necklace of down, she would
try to make herself a headdress of the remains, to fix that brilliant
shaft of color among the ripples of her silky hair. It made Desiree
and her mother smile to see her stand on tiptoe in front of the old
tarnished mirror, with affected little shrugs and grimaces. Then, when
she had had enough of admiring herself, the child would open the door
with all the strength of her little fingers, and would go demurely,
holding her head perfectly straight for fear of disarranging her
headdress, and knock at the Rislers' door.

No one was there in the daytime but Frantz the student, leaning over his
books, doing his duty faithfully. But when Sidonie enters, farewell to
study! Everything must be put aside to receive that lovely creature with
the humming-bird in her hair, pretending to be a princess who had come
to Chaptal's school to ask his hand in marriage from the director.

It was really a strange sight to see that tall, overgrown boy playing
with that little girl of eight, humoring her caprices, adoring her as he
yielded to her, so that later, when he fell genuinely in love with her,
no one could have said at what time the change began.

Petted as she was in those two homes, little Chebe was very fond of
running to the window on the landing. There it was that she found her
greatest source of entertainment, a horizon always open, a sort of
vision of the futu