Children and war -- Juvenile fiction; France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Juvenile fiction
They had put an overturned box by the one small window and had spread
their supper on it. The lettuce and garlic reposed in a tin plate in the
center of the improvised table, and a loaf of bread lay on a clean piece
of paper at one side. Next to the plate of lettuce was a small glass
filled with a few early violets. Dian came up to the table and stood
looking down at it and at Rosanne. He touched one of the violets with
his finger.
“A farmer woman gave them to me. She was sitting in her cart near the
west gate. I told her that I had some young friends who would love
them,” he said.
“Dian, they are like those at Pigeon Valley. Dian, think of it—Pigeon
Valley. I was telling Vivi just now about the lilies on the south
terrace at Les Vignes, clusters, crowds of them, white and gold. They’ll
bloom in June, Dian!” Two tears rolled down Rosanne’s face, but she
smiled through them. “I want to see Marie Josephine more than ever
to-night. I——”
Dian put his hand gently on her shoulder.
“You are brave,” he said, and then turning toward Vivi he added: “Vivi
is brave, too. She is helping us all the time.”
It was the best thing in the world he could have said, for Rosanne
forgot herself at once and thought of Vivi.
“Yes, she is the best friend. She is so good to me. When she comes in
she has always something for me, and when I am restless she dances for
me, and then I dance for her. She has learned to do the minuet with me
nicely, but she likes her own dances better.”
Vivi followed Dian to the door when he went out, and as he opened it
Minuit came in, rubbing herself against him as she passed him.
Dian walked toward the city. The sky was bright with stars. He thought
of the stars as they shone on the meadows of Les Vignes.
When he came to the corner leading into the rue Saint Honoré, he stood
still. There was the way of the Champs Élysées, in the evening always
the more quiet of the avenues. The tumbrils, which passed there all day,
stopped at sundown when the guillotine finished its day’s work, and the
crowds gathered along the rue Royale or about the Place de la Bastille,
or down the length of the rue Saint Honoré.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account