his wits'
end to hit upon a mode of again gaining her favor, thought teasing her
the best method of conciliation. Keeping his eyes on her face, he
several times repeated: "I know; I shall tell, I shall tell!"

Jeanne, however, became quite livid. Her gentle, sickly face assumed
an expression of ferocious anger; her brow was furrowed by two deep
wrinkles, and her chin drooped with nervous agitation.

"You!" she screamed excitedly; "you will say nothing!" And, as he
still feigned a resolve to speak, she rushed at him madly, and shouted
out: "Hold your tongue! I will have you hold your tongue! I will! I
will!"

Helene had been unable to prevent this fit of blind anger, such as
sometimes took possession of the child, and with some harshness
exclaimed: "Jeanne, take care; I shall whip you!"

But Jeanne paid no heed, never once heard her. Trembling from head to
foot, stamping on the ground, and choking with rage, she again and
again repeated, "I will! I will!" in a voice that grew more and more
hoarse and broken; and her hands convulsively gripped hold of Monsieur
Rambaud's arm, which she twisted with extraordinary strength. In vain
did Helene threaten her. At last, perceiving her inability to quell
her by severity, and grieved to the heart by such a display before so
many people, she contented herself by saying gently: "Jeanne, you are
grieving me very much."

The child immediately quitted her hold and turned her head. And when
she caught sight of her mother, with disconsolate face and eyes
swimming with repressed tears, she on her side burst into loud sobs,
and threw herself on Helene's neck, exclaiming in her grief: "No,
mamma! no, mamma!"

She passed her hands over her mother's face, as though to prevent her
weeping. Helene, however, slowly put her from her, and then the little
one, broken-hearted and distracted, threw herself on a seat a short
distance off, where her sobs broke out louder than ever. Lucien, to
whom she was always held up as an example to follow, gazed at her
surprised and somewhat pleased. And then, as Helene folded up her
work, apologizing for so regrettable an incident, Juliette remarked to
her:

"Dear me! we have to pardon children everything. Besides, the little
one has the best of hearts, and is grieved so much, poor darling, that
she has been already punished too severely."

So saying she called Jeanne to come and kiss her; but the child
remained on her seat, rejecting the offer of forgi