They slept soundly in the warmth and comfort of the delicious
kitchen, and awoke the next morning scarcely the worse for their
grave danger and peril.
And now followed what might have been called a week in the Palace
Beautiful for these little pilgrims. For while the snow lasted, and
the weather continued so bitterly cold, neither M. nor Mme. Dupois
would hear of their leaving them. With their whole warm hearts these
good Christian people took in the children brought to them by the
snow. Little Pauline and her brother Charles devoted themselves to
Cecile and Maurice, and though their mutual ignorance of the only
language the others could speak was owned to be a drawback, yet they
managed to play happily and to understand a great deal; and here, had
Cecile confided as much of her little story to kind Mme. Dupois as
she had done to Joe Barnes, all that follows need never have been
written. But alas! again that dread, that absolute terror that her
purse of gold, if discovered, might be taken from her, overcame the
poor little girl; so much so that, when Madame questioned her in her
English tone as to her life's history, and as to her present
pilgrimage, Cecile only replied that she was going through France on
her way to the South, that she had relations in the South. Joe, when
questioned, also said that he had a mother and a brother in the
South, and that he was taking care of Cecile and Maurice on their way
there.
Mme. Dupois did not really know English well, and Cecile's reserve,
joined to her few words of explanation, only puzzled her.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194