medicine that she had almost
forgotten, or carry her into the bedroom in his arms. These little
acts of devotion thrilled both with tenderness. As Jeanne eloquently
declared with her sombre eyes, whose flashes disturbed the old man so
sorely, they were playing the parts of the father and the little girl
while her mother was absent. Then, however, sadness would all at once
fall upon them; their talk died away, and they glanced at one another
stealthily with pitying looks.

That afternoon, after a lengthy silence, the child asked the question
which she had already put to her mother: "Is Italy far away?"

"Oh! I should think so," replied Monsieur Rambaud. "It's away over
yonder, on the other side of Marseilles, a deuce of a distance! Why do
you ask me such a question?"

"Oh! because--" she began gravely. But she burst into loud complaints
at her ignorance. She was always ill, and she had never been sent to
school. Then they both became silent again, lulled into forgetfulness
by the intense heat of the fire.

In the meantime Helene had found Madame Deberle and her sister Pauline
in the Japanese pavilion where they so frequently whiled away the
afternoon. Inside it was very warm, a heating apparatus filled it with
a stifling atmosphere.

The large windows were shut, and a full view could be had of the
little garden, which, in its winter guise, looked like some large
sepia drawing, finished with exquisite delicacy, the little black
branches of the trees showing clear against the brown earth. The two
sisters were carrying on a sharp controversy.

"Now, be quiet, do!" exclaimed Juliette; "it is evidently our interest
to support Turkey."

"Oh! I've had a talk about it with a Russian," replied Pauline, who
was equally excited. "We are much liked at St. Petersburg, and it is
only there that we can find our proper allies."

Juliette's face assumed a serious look, and, crossing her arms, she
exclaimed: "Well, and what will you do with the balance of power in
Europe?"

The Eastern crisis was the absorbing topic in Paris at that moment;[*]
it was the stock subject of conversation, and no woman who pretended
to any position could speak with propriety of anything else. Thus, for
two days past, Madame Deberle had with passionate fervor devoted
herself to foreign politics. Her ideas were very pronounced on the
various eventualities which might arise; and Pauline greatly annoyed
her by her eccentricity in advocating Russia's c