shoulders:--

"Wait until Madame Giraud is invited to visit the Boulevard
Malesherbes," she said. "We have not heard that this has happened yet."

"She would' not go if she were, at least not to remain. Her heart has
grown to the old place she bore her children in, and she has herself
said to me most sensibly: 'Laure is young, and will learn easily the
ways of the great world; I am old, and cannot; I am better at home among
my neighbors.' Doubtless, however, In course of time she will pay Madame
Legrand a visit at her home in Paris, or at the chateau which Monsieur
Legrand of course possesses, as the rich and aristocratic always do."

"Doubtless!" said Annot, grimly; "doubtless."

Honest Jeanne Tallot passed the sneer by, and went on with stout gravity
of demeanor:--

"There is only one thing for which I somewhat blamed Mere Giraud, and
that is that I think she has scarcely done her duty toward Valentin. He
disappointed her by being an ugly lad instead of a pretty girl, and she
had not patience with him. Laure was the favorite. Whatever Laure did
was right, and it was not so with the other, though I myself know that
Valentin was a good lad, and tender-hearted."

"Once," put in a white cap, "I saw her beat him severely because he fell
with the little girl in his arms and scratched her cheek, and it was
not his fault. His foot slipped upon a stone. He was carrying the child
carefully and tenderly enough. You are right in calling him a good lad,
neighbor Tallot. He was a good lad,--Valentin Giraud,--and fond of his
mother, notwithstanding that she was not fond of him."

"Yes," added her companion; "but it is a truth that he was a great
contrast to the girl. _Mon Dieu!_ his long limbs and awkward body, his
great sad eyes and ugly face! While Laure,--was she not tall and slender
and white, like a lily in a garden? And her voice was like the ringing
of silver, and her eyes so soft and large. As an infant, she reminded
one of the little Jesu as one sees him in the churches. No wonder that
Mere Giraud fretted at the difference between the two. And Valentin was
her first, and what mother does not look for great things in her first?
We cannot help feeling that something must come of one's own charms if
one has any, and Mere Giraud was a handsome bride. An ugly bantling
seems to offer one a sort of insult, particularly at first, when one is
young and vain."

"There was no more beautiful young girl than Laure Giraud at sixt