cold-hearted, strong-minded woman, more absorbed in the change
about to be operated in her own situation by her approaching widowhood,
than by her impending bereavement of a most excellent and tender
husband. But one precious legacy was in reserve for the forlorn infant.
She was clasped to the heart of her dying father--his blessing was
breathed over her, and his last tears fell on her innocent, unconscious
face. "Mon enfant! tu ne connaitra jamais ton pere, mais il veillera sur
toi," were the tender, emphatic words with which he resigned her to the
arms of the old servant, who failed not to repeat them to her little
charge when she was old enough to comprehend their affecting purport.
And well and holily did la petite Madelaine treasure that saying in her
heart of hearts; and early reason had the poor child to fly for comfort
to that secret source. Madame du Resnel could not be accused of
over-indulgence to any of her children--least of all to the poor little
one whom she looked on from the first almost as an intruder; but she
felt maternal pride in the resemblance already visible in her elder
daughters to her own fine form and handsome features,--while la petite
Madelaine, a small creature from her birth, though delicately and
perfectly proportioned--fair and blue-eyed, and meek-looking as
innocence itself, but without one feature in her face that could be
called handsome, had the additional misfortune, when about five years
old, to be marked--though not seamed--by the small-pox, from which cruel
disease her life escaped almost miraculously.

"Qu'elle est affreuse!" was the mother's tender exclamation at the first
full view of her restored child's disfigured face. Those words, young as
she was, went to the poor child's heart, that swelled so to bursting, it
might have broken, (who knows?) but for her hoarded comfort: and she
sobbed herself to sleep that night, over and over again repeating to
herself, "Mon papa veille sur moi."

If there be much truth in that poetical axiom,

"A favourite has no friend,"

it is at least as frequently evident, that even in domestic circles the
degree of favour shown by the head of the household to any individual
member too often regulates the general tone of consideration; and that
even among the urchins of the family, an instinctive perception is never
wanting, of how far, and over whom, they may tyrannise with impunity.

No creature in whose nature was a spark of human feel