One morning I went as usual to the children’s room; I drew the curtains partly aside and kissed my daughter, and I was about to steal away on tiptoe when I heard a burst of laughter behind me; I turned and saw Henriette in her nightgown, crouching behind a chair; she came from her hiding-place, and began to hop and dance about the room, saying: “I knew that I would make you kiss my brother.” I looked at her in surprise, then hastily pushed aside the curtains of her bed; it was her brother who was lying there; she had put her little cap on his head, and his face was turned to the wall. He was the one whom I had kissed, as his sister had put him in her place. I was deeply moved. At that moment Eugène’s little voice was heard; he called out without moving or turning: “Can I move now, sister?” “Yes, yes, it’s all over,” Henriette replied. “What? What does he mean by that?” I asked. “Oh, papa, he wasn’t asleep, he was only making believe; I turned his face to the wall and I said to him: ‘if you move, if you turn your head, papa will know you, and he won’t kiss you.’--He was very good, you see, he didn’t move at all.” I could hold out no longer; I took Eugène in my arms and covered him with kisses, as well as his sister, crying: “After this you will both receive the same caresses from me; my heart shall know no difference between you; you shall be alike my children. Ah! it is better to love a stranger than to run the risk of spurning my son from my arms.” XXIII THE MARRIAGE BROKER Ernest and his wife very soon noticed the change that had taken place in my manner toward my son, and they seemed overjoyed. I told them what Henriette had done, and that the change was due to her. They lavished caresses upon her, and I did the same, for I owed it to her that I was much happier. Arriving one day from Paris, with books for me and toys for the children, Pettermann remained standing in front of me; it was his custom when he wished to say something to me to wait for me to question him; I had become used to that peculiarity. “What is there new, Pettermann?” “Nothing, monsieur, except that I met someone on my way here this morning.” “Met someone? Does that interest me?” “Yes, it was some acquaintances of monsieur, some people who were at Mont-d’Or at the same time that we were; that pretty young lady with such a fine figure and the thin, lively, good-natured little man.” “Monsieur Roquencourt and his niece?” “Yes.” “Where did you see them?” “On the boulevard, as I was on my way to Faubourg-Saint-Antoine.” “You did not speak first to them, I fancy?”