still, and when I managed to throw it off, it split
up into several pieces, which fell back on me and crushed my limbs.
Then I dreamed that I was on a road full of sharp pointed stones which
cut me. I walked along it with difficulty. On both sides of the road
there were fields, vines, and houses. All the houses were covered with
snow, but the trees were laden with fruit, and were in bright sunshine.
I left the road and went into the fields, stopping at all the trees to
taste the fruit. But the fruit was bitter, and I threw it away. I
tried to go into the snow-covered houses, but they had no doors. I
went back on to the road and the stones gathered round me so fast that
I could not go on. Then I called for help. I called as loud as I
could, but nobody heard me. And when I felt I was going to be buried
under a huge heap of stones, I struggled so hard to get away from them
that I woke myself up. For a moment I thought I was still dreaming.
The ceiling of the room seemed to be a tremendous height. The rod from
which the white curtain was hanging glittered here and there, and the
branch of boxwood which was nailed to the wall threw a shadow on the
statue of the Virgin which was in the corner. Then a cock crowed. He
crowed several times, as though he wanted to make me forget his first
crow, which had stopped short, as if he were in pain. The night-light
began to flicker. It flickered for a long time before it went out, and
when the room was quite dark I heard Sister Desiree-des-Anges breathing
gently and regularly.

Long before daybreak I got up to begin my work in the kitchen.
Melanie showed me how to lift the big coppers. It was a matter of
skill as well as of strength. It took me more than a week before I
could even move one of them. Melanie taught me how to ring the heavy
waking bell. She showed me how to put my shoulders into the work so as
to pull the rope, and I soon got into the way of it. And every
morning, whether it were cold or raining, I used to enjoy ringing the
bell. It had a clear sound which the wind increased or lessened, and I
never got tired of hearing it. There were days when I rang so long
that Sister Desiree-des-Anges would open her window and would say
pleadingly, "That'll do, that'll do."

Since I had come to the kitchen, Veronique the Minx used to look away
from me when she spoke, and if I asked her where anything was, she
would point to it without speaking. Sister Des