eem as though I were covered
over with ice."

Morel took off his jacket, and laid it over his wife's feet, remaining
quite naked down to his waist,--the unhappy man did not possess a shirt.

"But you will be frozen to death, Morel!"

"Never mind me; if I find it cold by and by, I will put my jacket on for
a few minutes."

"Poor fellow!" sighed Madeleine. "Ah, as you say, Heaven is not just!
What have we done to be so wretched, while so many others--"

"Every one has their troubles,--some more, some less,--the great as well
as the small."

"Yes; but great people know nothing of the gnawings of hunger, or the
bitter pinching of the cold. Why, when I look on those diamonds, and
remember that the smallest amongst them would place us and the poor
children in ease and comfort, my heart sickens, and I ask myself why it
is some should have so much, and others nothing? And what good are these
diamonds, after all, to their owners?"

"Why, if we were to go to the question of what half the luxuries of life
are really good for, we might go a great way; for instance, what is the
good of that grand gentleman Madame Pipelet calls the commandant having
engaged and furnished the first floor of this house, when he seldom
enters it? What use is it his having there good beds, and warm covering
to them, since he never sleeps in them?"

"Very true; there is more furniture lying idle there than would supply
two or three poor families like ours. And then Madame Pipelet lights a
fire every day, to preserve the things from the damp. Only think of so
much comfortable warmth being lost, while we and the children are almost
frozen to death! But then, you will say, we are not articles of value;
no, indeed, we are not. Oh, these rich folks, what hard hearts they
have!"

"Not harder than other people's, Madeleine; but then, you see, they do
not know what misery or want are. They are born rich and happy, they
live and die so. How, then, do you expect they can ever think such poor
distressed beings exist in a world which to them is all happiness? No! I
tell you, they have no idea of such things as fellow creatures toiling
beyond their strength for food, and perishing at last with hunger! How
is it possible for them to imagine privations like ours? The greater
their hunger, the greater enjoyment of their abundant meal. Is the
weather severe, or the cold intense, they call it a fine frost, a
healthful, bracing season. If they walk out, they retu