or
me. One made my _peignoirs_ for me, one this, one that--_ma foi!_
I did not recognize myself. One made all the toilet of the bureau,
another of the bed, and we all sewed on the wedding-dress together.
And you should have seen Clementine, going out in all her great
mourning, looking for a house, looking for a servant! But the wedding
was private on account of poor papa. But you know, Loulou, I had never
time to think, except about Clementine and the children, and when I
thought of all those poor little children, poor papa's children, I
said 'Quick, quick,' like the rest.

"It was the next day, the morning after the wedding, I had time to
think. I was sitting here, just as you see me now, in my pretty new
_negligee_. I had been looking at all the pretty presents I have
shown you, and my trousseau, and my furniture,--it is not bad, as
you see,--my dress, my veil, my ring, and--I do not know--I do not
know--but, all of a sudden, from everywhere came the thought of my
_brun_, my handsome _brun_ with the mustache, and the _bonne aventure,
ricke, avenant_, the Jules, Raoul, Guy, and the flower leaves, and
'_il m'aime, un pen, beaucoup, pas du tout,' passionnement_, and the
way I expected to meet him walking to and from school, walking as if
I were dancing the steps, and oh, my plans, my plans, my plans,--silk
dresses, theater, voyages to Europe,--and poor papa, so fine, so tall,
so aristocratic. I cannot tell you how it all came; it seized my
heart, and, _mon Dieu!_ I cried out, and I wept, I wept, I wept. How
I wept! It pains me here now to remember it. Hours, hours it lasted,
until I had no tears in my body, and I had to weep without them, with
sobs and moans. But this, I have always observed, is the time for
reflection--after the tears are all out. And I am sure God himself
gave me my thoughts. 'Poor little Mimi!' I thought, '_fi done_! You
are going to make a fool of yourself now when it is all over, because
why? It is God who manages the world, and not you. You pray to God to
help you in your despair, and he has helped you. He has sent you a
good, kind husband who adores you; who asks only to be a brother to
your sisters and brothers, and son to Clementine; who has given you
more than you ever possessed in your life--but because he did not come
out of the _bonne aventure_--and who gets a husband out of the
_bonne aventure?_--and would your _brun_ have come to you in your
misfortune?' I am sure God inspired those thoug