h covered the straw,
and the children were inserted into this bed, or, rather, foul and
noisome dunghill, the outer case serving both for sheet and counterpane.
Two little girls, one of whom was extremely ill, shivered on one side,
and three young boys on the other, all going to bed without undressing,
if, indeed, the miserable rags they wore could be termed clothes. Masses
of thick, dry, light hair, tangled, ragged, and uncombed, left uncut
because their poor mother fancied it helped to keep them warm, half
covered their pale, thin, pinched features. One of the boys drew, with
his cold, benumbed fingers, the covering over their straw bed up to his
chin, in order to defend himself from the cold; while another, fearful
of exposing his hands to the influence of the frost, tried to grasp the
bed-covering with his teeth, which rattled and shook in his head; while
a third strove to huddle up to his brothers in the hopes of gaining a
little warmth. The youngest of the two girls, fatally attacked by
consumption, leaned her poor little face, which already bore the hue of
death, languidly against the chilly bosom of her sister, a girl just one
year older, who vainly sought, by pressing her in her arms, to impart
comfort and ease to the little sufferer, over whom she watched with the
anxious solicitude of a parent.

On another _paillasse_, also placed on the ground, at the foot of that
of the children, the wife of the artisan was extended, groaning in
helpless exhaustion from the effects of a slow fever and an internal
complaint, which had not permitted her to quit her bed for several
months. Madeleine Morel was in her thirty-sixth year; a blue cotton
handkerchief, tied round her low forehead, made the bilious pallor of
her countenance and sharp, emaciated features still more conspicuous. A
dark halo encircled her hollow, sunken eyes, while her lips were split
and bleeding from the effects of the fever which consumed her; her
dejected, grief-worn physiognomy, and small, insignificant features,
indicated one of those gentle but weak natures, without resource or
energy, which unable to struggle with misfortunes, yield at once, and
know no remedy but vain and ceaseless lamentations and regrets. Weak,
spiritless, and of limited capacity, she had remained honest because her
husband was so; had she been left to herself, it is probable that
ignorance and misfortune might have depraved her mind and driven her to
any lengths. She loved he