s still streamed. There
was not, however, a single shop to throw the glare of its frontage
across the dimness. To Henri and Helene the loneliness was pregnant
with intense charm. He had not ventured to offer her his arm. Jeanne
walked between them in the middle of the road, which was gravelled
like a walk in some park. At last the houses came to an end, and then
on each side were walls, over which spread mantling clematis and
clusters of lilac blossoms. Immense gardens parted the mansions, and
here and there through the railings of an iron gate they could catch
glimpses of a gloomy background of verdure, against which the
tree-dotted turf assumed a more delicate hue. The air was filled with
the perfume of irises growing in vases which they could scarce
distinguish. All three paced on slowly through the warm spring night,
which was steeping them in its odors, and Jeanne, with childish
artlessness, raised her face to the heavens, and exclaimed:

"Oh, mamma, see what a number of stars!"

But behind them, like an echo of their own, came the footfall of
Mother Fetu. Nearer and nearer she approached, till they could hear
her muttering the opening words of the Angelic Salutation "_Ave Marie,
gratia plena_," repeating them over and over again with the same
confused persistency. She was telling her beads on her homeward way.

"I have still something left--may I give it to her?" Jeanne asked her
mother.

And thereupon, without waiting for a reply, she left them, running
towards the old woman, who was on the point of entering the Passage
des Eaux. Mother Fetu clutched at the coin, calling upon all the
angels of Heaven to bless her. As she spoke, however, she grasped the
child's hand and detained her by her side, then asking in changed
tones:

"The other lady is ill, is she not?"

"No," answered Jeanne, surprised.

"May Heaven shield her! May it shower its favors on her and her
husband! Don't run away yet, my dear little lady. Let me say an _Ave
Maria_ for your mother's sake, and you will join in the 'Amen' with
me. Oh! your mother will allow you; you can catch her up."

Meanwhile Henri and Helene trembled as they found themselves suddenly
left alone in the shadow cast by a line of huge chestnut trees that
bordered the road. They quietly took a few steps. The chestnut trees
had strewn the ground with their bloom, and they were walking upon
this rosy-tinted carpet. On a sudden, however, they came to a stop,
their hearts f