that she was
practical, made us hope that everything could be made right. But she did
not come as soon as we had hoped. A few days later the father had just
left the house to call on one of his friends, when he met the police
face to face coming for him. He returned to the house with them; he was
very pale; he had come to say good-by to his children.

"Don't be so downcast, man," said one of them who had come to take him;
"to be in prison for debt is not so dreadful as you seem to think.
You'll find some very good fellows there."

I went to fetch the two boys, who were in the garden. Little Lise was
sobbing; one of the men stooped down and whispered something in her ear,
but I did not hear what he said.

The parting was over very quickly. M. Acquin caught Lise up in his arms
and kissed her again and again, then he put her down, but she clung to
his hand. Then he kissed Etiennette, Alexix and Benny and gave Lise into
her sister's care. I stood a little apart, but he came to me and kissed
me affectionately, just like the others, and then they took him away. We
all stood in the middle of the kitchen crying; not one of us had a word
to say.

Aunt Catherine arrived an hour later. We were still crying bitterly. For
a country woman who had no education or money, the responsibility that
had fallen upon her was heavy. A family of destitute children, the
eldest not yet sixteen, the youngest a dumb girl. Aunt Catherine had
been a nurse in a lawyer's family; she at once called upon this man to
ask his advice, and it was he who decided our fate. When she returned
from the lawyer's, she told us what had been arranged. Lise was to go
and live with her. Alexix was to go to an uncle at Varses, Benny to
another uncle, who was a florist at Saint-Quentin, and Etiennette to an
aunt who lived at the seashore.

I listened to these plans, waiting until they came to me. When Aunt
Catherine ceased speaking, and I had not been mentioned, I said, "And
me?..."

"Why, you don't belong to the family."

"I'll work for you."

"You're not one of the family."

"Ask Alexix and Benny if I can't work, and I like work."

"And soup, also, eh?"

"But he's one of the family; yes, aunt, he's one of the family," came
from all sides.

Lise came forwards and clasped her hands before her aunt with an
expression that said more than words.

"Poor mite," said Aunt Catherine, "I know you'd like him to come and
live with us, but we can't always get wha