er even before I was
laid under the sod. He was alone with her on the other side of the wall,
comforting her--embracing her, perhaps!

But the door opened once more, and heavy footsteps shook the floor.

"Quick, make haste," repeated Mme Gabin. "Get it done before the lady
comes back."

She was speaking to some strangers, who merely answered her with uncouth
grunts.

"You understand," she went on, "I am not a relation; I'm only a
neighbor. I have no interest in the matter. It is out of pure good
nature that I have mixed myself up in their affairs. And I ain't
overcheerful, I can tell you. Yes, yes, I sat up the whole blessed
night--it was pretty cold, too, about four o'clock. That's a fact. Well,
I have always been a fool--I'm too soft-hearted."

The coffin had been dragged into the center of the room. As I had
not awakened I was condemned. All clearness departed from my ideas;
everything seemed to revolve in a black haze, and I experienced such
utter lassitude that it seemed almost a relief to leave off hoping.

"They haven't spared the material," said one of the undertaker's men in
a gruff voice. "The box is too long."

"He'll have all the more room," said the other, laughing.

I was not heavy, and they chuckled over it since they had three flights
of stairs to descend. As they were seizing me by the shoulders and feet
I heard Mme Gabin fly into a violent passion.

"You cursed little brat," she screamed, "what do you mean by poking your
nose where you're not wanted? Look here, I'll teach you to spy and pry."

Dede had slipped her tousled head through the doorway to see how the
gentleman was being put into the box. Two ringing slaps resounded,
however, by an explosion of sobs. And as soon as the mother returned she
began to gossip about her daughter for the benefit of the two men who
were settling me in the coffin.

"She is only ten, you know. She is not a bad girl, but she is
frightfully inquisitive. I do not beat her often; only I WILL be
obeyed."

"Oh," said one of the men, "all kids are alike. Whenever there is a
corpse lying about they always want to see it."

I was commodiously stretched out, and I might have thought myself still
in bed, had it not been that my left arm felt a trifle cramped from
being squeezed against a board. The men had been right. I was pretty
comfortable inside on account of my diminutive stature.

"Stop!" suddenly exclaimed Mme Gabin. "I promised his wife to put a
pillow u