Silence reigned for a moment in the hovel. The elder girl was removing the mud from the bottom of her mantle, with a careless air; her younger sister continued to sob; the mother had taken the latter’s head between her hands, and was covering it with kisses, whispering to her the while:⁠—

“My treasure, I entreat you, it is nothing of consequence, don’t cry, you will anger your father.”

“No!” exclaimed the father, “quite the contrary! sob! sob! that’s right.”

Then turning to the elder:⁠—

“There now! He is not coming! What if he were not to come! I shall have extinguished my fire, wrecked my chair, torn my shirt, and broken my pane all for nothing.”

“And wounded the child!” murmured the mother.