e out every detail inside. Rosalie, who was busy attending to
the soup, reproached mademoiselle with being inquisitive. But the
child had caught sight of her mother's dress; and pointed her out,
whilst flattening her face against the glass to obtain a better view.
Pauline meanwhile looked up, and nodded vigorously. Then Helene also
made her appearance, and signed to the child to come down.

"They have seen you, mademoiselle," said the servant girl. "They want
you to go down."

Monsieur Rambaud opened the window, and every one called to him to
carry Jeanne downstairs. Jeanne, however, vanished into her room, and
vehemently refused to go, accusing her worthy friend of having
purposely tapped on the window. It was a great pleasure to her to look
at her mother, but she stubbornly declared she would not go near that
house; and to all Monsieur Rambaud's questions and entreaties she
would only return a stern "Because!" which was meant to explain
everything.

"It is not you who ought to force me," she said at last, with a gloomy
look.

But he told her that she would grieve her mother very much, and that
it was not right to insult other people. He would muffle her up well,
she would not catch cold; and, so saying, he wound the shawl round her
body, and taking the silk handkerchief from her head, set a knitted
hood in its place. Even when she was ready, however, she still
protested her unwillingness; and when in the end she allowed him to
carry her down, it was with the express proviso that he would take her
up again the moment she might feel poorly. The porter opened the door
by which the two houses communicated, and when they entered the garden
they were hailed with exclamations of joy. Madame Deberle, in
particular, displayed a vast amount of affection for Jeanne; she
ensconced her in a chair near the stove, and desired that the windows
might be closed, for the air she declared was rather sharp for the
dear child. Malignon had now left. As Helene began smoothing the
child's dishevelled hair, somewhat ashamed to see her in company
muffled up in a shawl and a hood, Juliette burst out in protest:

"Leave her alone! Aren't we all at home here? Poor Jeanne! we are glad
to have her!"

She rang the bell, and asked if Miss Smithson and Lucien had returned
from their daily walk. No, they had not yet returned. It was just as
well, she declared; Lucien was getting beyond control, and only the
night before had made the five Levass