p with Sister
Marie-Aimee. The little ones snivelled as though they were going into
danger. Ismerie, whom I was carrying upstairs on my back, was crying
noisily. Her little fingers hurt my throat, and her tears fell down my
neck. Nobody thought of laughing at Sister Gabrielle, who went
upstairs slowly, saying "Hush, hush," all the time, without making the
noise any less. The servant in the little dormitory was crying too.
She shook me a little while she was undressing me and said, "I'm sure
you are pleased at having that Sister Marie-Aimee of yours." We used
to call the servant Bonne Esther. I liked her best of the three
servants. She was rather rough sometimes, but she was fond of us.
When I coughed she used to get up and put a piece of sugar in my mouth.
And often she took me out of my bed when I was cold and warmed me in
her own.

Next morning we went down to the refectory in dead silence. The
servants told us to remain standing. Several of the big girls stood
very straight and looked proud. Bonne Justine stood at one end of the
table. She looked sad and bent her head. Bonne Neron, who looked like
a gendarme, walked up and down in the middle of the refectory. Now and
then she looked at the clock, and shrugged her shoulders. Sister
Marie-Aimee came in, leaving the door open behind her. She seemed to
me to be taller than usual, in her white apron and white cuffs. She
walked slowly, looking at us all. The rosary, which hung at her side,
made a little clickety sound, and her skirt swung a little as she
walked. She went up the three steps to her desk, and made a sign to us
to sit down. In the afternoon she took us out for a walk in the
country. It was very hot. I went and sat down near her on a little
hillock. She was reading a book, and every now and then looked at the
little girls who were playing in a field below us. She looked at the
sun which was setting, and kept on saying "How lovely it is, how lovely
it is."

That evening the birch which Sister Gabrielle kept in the dormitory was
put away in a cupboard, and in the refectory the salad was turned with
two long wooden spoons. These were the only changes. We went into
class from nine o'clock till twelve, and in the afternoon we cracked
nuts, which were sold to an oil merchant. The bigger girls used to
crack them with a hammer, and the little ones took them out of the
shells. We were forbidden to eat them, and it was not easy, anyhow