r affianced
pair, Ambroise and Andree, who were to be conducted in triumph to the
farm where they would all lunch together. It would be a kind of wedding
rehearsal, she exclaimed with her hearty laugh; they would be able to
arrange the programme for the great day. And her idea enraptured her
to such a point, she seemed to anticipate so much delight from this
preliminary festival, that Mathieu and Marianne consented to it.

Rose's marriage was like the supreme blossoming of years of prosperity,
and brought a finishing touch to the happiness of the home. She was the
prettiest of Mathieu's daughters, with dark brown hair, round gilded
cheeks, merry eyes, and charming mouth. And she had the most equable of
dispositions, her laughter ever rang out so heartily! She seemed indeed
to be the very soul, the good fairy, of that farm teeming with busy
life. But beneath the invariable good humor which kept her singing from
morning till night there was much common sense and energy of affection,
as her choice of a husband showed. Eight years previously Mathieu had
engaged the services of one Frederic Berthaud, the son of a petty farmer
of the neighborhood. This sturdy young fellow had taken a passionate
interest in the creative work of Chantebled, learning and working there
with rare activity and intelligence. He had no means of his own at all.
Rose, who had grown up near him, knew however that he was her father's
preferred assistant, and when he returned to the farm at the expiration
of his military service she, divining that he loved her, forced him
to acknowledge it. Thus she settled her own future life; she wished to
remain near her parents, on that farm which had hitherto held all her
happiness. Neither Mathieu nor Marianne was surprised at this. Deeply
touched, they signified their approval of a choice in which affection
for themselves had so large a part. The family ties seemed to be drawn
yet closer, and increase of joy came to the home.

So everything was settled, and it was agreed that on the appointed
Sunday Ambroise should bring his betrothed Andree and her mother,
Madame Seguin, to Janville by the ten o'clock train. A couple of hours
previously Rose had already begun a battle with the object of prevailing
upon the whole family to repair to the railway station to meet the
affianced pair.

"But come, my children, it is unreasonable," Marianne gently exclaimed.
"It is necessary that somebody should stay at home. I shall ke