elf by going to see a corpse!" But his wife had heard him and
replied very quietly: "But it is so, it is so." And then, putting her
knitting on the counter, she went upstairs to the first floor, where she
met two other neighbors, who had just come, and who were discussing the
event with Madame Caravan, who was giving them the details, and they all
went together to the death chamber. The four women went in softly, and,
one after the other, sprinkled the bed clothes with the salt water, knelt
down, made the sign of the cross while they mumbled a prayer. Then they
rose from their knees and looked for some time at the corpse with round,
wide-open eyes and mouths partly open, while the daughter-in-law of the
dead woman, with her handkerchief to her face, pretended to be sobbing
piteously.

When she turned about to walk away whom should she perceive standing
close to the door but Marie-Louise and Philippe-Auguste, who were
curiously taking stock of all that was going on. Then, forgetting her
pretended grief, she threw herself upon them with uplifted hands, crying
out in a furious voice, "Will you get out of this, you horrid brats!"

Ten minutes later, going upstairs again with another contingent of
neighbors, she prayed, wept profusely, performed all her duties, and
found once more her two children, who had followed her upstairs. She
again boxed their ears soundly, but the next time she paid no heed to
them, and at each fresh arrival of visitors the two urchins always
followed in the wake, kneeling down in a corner and imitating slavishly
everything they saw their mother do.

When the afternoon came the crowds of inquisitive people began to
diminish, and soon there were no more visitors. Madame Caravan, returning
to her own apartments, began to make the necessary preparations for the
funeral ceremony, and the deceased was left alone.

The window of the room was open. A torrid heat entered, along with clouds
of dust; the flames of the four candles were flickering beside the
immobile corpse, and upon the cloth which covered the face, the closed
eyes, the two stretched-out hands, small flies alighted, came, went and
careered up and down incessantly, being the only companions of the old
woman for the time being.

Marie-Louise and Philippe-Auguste, however, had now left the house and
were running up and down the street. They were soon surrounded by their
playmates, by little girls especially, who were older and who were much