ed in front of the
picture of the Virgin, I would put my hands together and pray
fervently, "Admirable Mother, make me find a handkerchief." But I
never did find one, and I went downstairs again red in the face, out of
breath, feeling dreadfully unhappy, and not daring to take the clean
handkerchief which Sister Marie-Aimee handed to me. Before she spoke,
I could hear the scolding which I knew I deserved. And even when
Sister Marie-Aimee said nothing at all, I could see her frown, and her
eyes looked crossly at me and followed me about. I felt crushed with
shame, so crushed that I could scarcely lift my feet. I tried to hide
in the corners as I walked; and, in spite of it all, next time I had
lost my handkerchief again. Madeleine used to look at me with sham
compassion. But she could not always prevent herself from telling me
that I deserved to be punished severely. She seemed very fond of
Sister Marie-Aimee. She waited on her always, and she would burst into
tears at her slightest word. Then Sister Marie-Aimee had to soothe her
by patting her cheeks, and she would laugh and cry at the same time,
and move her shoulders about, showing her white neck. Bonne Neron used
to say that she looked like a cat.

Bonne Neron left one day after a scene in the middle of luncheon. It
happened during a dead silence. All of a sudden she shouted out, "Yes;
I want to go, and I am going!" Sister Marie-Aimee looked at her in
astonishment, and Bonne Neron faced her, putting her head down, shaking
it, butting at her almost, and shouting all the time that she would not
be ordered about by a bit of a baby. She walked backwards as she
shouted, got to the door, and pulled it open. Before she went out of
the room she threw one of her long arms out at Sister Marie-Aimee, and
shrieked, "She isn't even twenty-five!" Some of the little girls were
frightened, others burst out laughing. Madeleine got quite hysterical.
She threw herself on to the floor at Sister Marie-Aimee's knees,
kissing her dress, and winding her arms round her legs. She got hold
of her two hands and mumbled over them with her big, moist mouth,
screaming all the time as though some terrible catastrophe had
happened. Sister Marie-Aimee could not shake her off. At last she got
angry. Then Madeleine fainted, and fell on her back. As she was
undoing her Sister Marie-Aimee made a sign towards the part of the room
where I was. I thought she wanted me, and ran