"My little girl," said _maman_, "your poor _bonne maman_ does not suffer any more. She is very happy now with the angels and _le bon Dieu_," but _maman_ was sobbing as she spoke. [Illustration: We children had a splendid picnic breakfast] I knew death only as it had come to one of my little birds that lived in the round cage hung in the nursery-window, and I was very much frightened when papa said: "I am going to take Sophie to your mother's room, Eliane. She is old enough to understand." But I went with him obediently, holding his hand. Outside _bonne maman's_ door he paused and stooped to kiss me and said: "I know how much you loved your _bonne maman_, Sophie, and I want you to say good-by to her, for you will never see her again. She loved you so much, my little darling, and you shall be the last one to kiss her." The room was all black, and in the middle stood the bed. Beside it, on a table, a little _chapelle_ had been made with a great silver cross and candelabra with lighted tapers. A bunch of fresh box stood in a goblet of holy water. _Bonne maman_ lay with her arms stretched out before her, the hands clasped on her black wooden crucifix with a silver Christ that had always hung upon her wall. Her hair was not dressed, but drawn up from her forehead and covered with a mantilla of white silk Spanish lace, which fell down over her shoulders on each side. I stood beside her holding papa's hand. Her profile was sharply cut against the blackness, and I had never before seen how beautiful it was. Her eyes were closed, and she smiled tranquilly. I felt no longer any fear; but when papa lifted me in his arms so that I might kiss _bonne maman_ and my lips touched her forehead, a great shock went through me. How cold her forehead was! O my poor _bonne maman_! Even now, after all the lusters that have passed over me, I feel the cold of that last kiss. CHAPTER XII THE JOURNEY FROM BRITTANY