Janville. Afterwards came a railway journey of three-quarters of an
hour, and another journey of at least equal duration through Paris, from
the Northern Railway terminus to the Boulevard de Grenelle. He seldom
reached his office at the factory before half-past eight o'clock.
He had just kissed the children. Fortunately they were asleep; otherwise
they would have linked their arms about his neck, laughed and kissed
him, being ever unwilling to let him go. And as he hastily returned to
the principal bedroom, he found his wife, Marianne, in bed there, but
awake and sitting up. She had risen a moment before in order to pull
back a curtain, and all the glow of that radiant May morning swept in,
throwing a flood of gay sunshine over the fresh and healthy beauty of
her four-and-twenty years. He, who was three years the elder, positively
adored her.
"You know, my darling," said he, "I must make haste, for I fear I may
miss the train--and so manage as well as you can. You still have thirty
sous left, haven't you?"
She began to laugh, looking charming with her bare arms and her
loose-flowing dark hair. The ever-recurring pecuniary worries of
the household left her brave and joyous. Yet she had been married at
seventeen, her husband at twenty, and they already had to provide for
four children.
"Oh! we shall be all right," said she. "It's the end of the month
to-day, and you'll receive your money to-night. I'll settle our little
debts at Janville to-morrow. There are only the Lepailleurs, who worry
me with their bill for milk and eggs, for they always look as if they
fancied one meant to rob them. But with thirty sous, my dear! why, we
shall have quite a high time of it!"
She was still laughing as she held out her firm white arms for the
customary morning good-by.
"Run off, since you are in a hurry. I will go to meet you at the little
bridge to-night."
"No, no, I insist on your going to bed! You know very well that even
if I catch the quarter-to-eleven-o'clock train, I cannot reach Janville
before half-past eleven. Ah! what a day I have before me! I had to
promise the Moranges that I would take dejeuner with them; and this
evening Beauchene is entertaining a customer--a business dinner, which
I'm obliged to attend. So go to bed, and have a good sleep while you are
waiting for me."
She gently nodded, but would give no positive promise. "Don't forget to
call on the landlord," she added, "to tell him that the rain c
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