to laugh about it herself, saying that she hopped up like an old
hen going to roost. As Sister Marie-Aimйe always went upstairs first,
I used to wait and go up among the last girls. But sometimes Sister
Marie-Aimйe would turn round suddenly. Then Ismйrie slipped down my
body to the ground with wonderful quickness and skill. I always felt a
little bit awkward when I caught Sister Marie-Aimйe's eye, and Ismйrie
always said, "See what a fool you are. You were caught again." Marie
Renaud would never let her climb up on to her back. She used to say
that she wore her dress out and made it dirty.




Esmйrie was a little chatterbox, but Marie Renaud hardly ever talked at
all. Every morning she used to help me to make my bed. She would pass
her hands over the sheets to smooth them out, and always refused my
help in making her bed, because she said I rolled the sheets all kinds
of ways. I never could understand why her bed was so smooth when she
got up. One day she told me that she pinned her sheets and her
blankets to the mattress. She had all kinds of little hiding-places
full of all kinds of things. At table she always used to eat some of
yesterday's dessert. The dessert of the day went into her pocket. She
used to finger it there, and would munch a little bit of it from time
to time. I often found her sitting in corners making lace with a pin.
Her great pleasure was brushing, folding, and putting things in order.
That was why my shoes were always well brushed and my Sunday dress
carefully folded. But one day a new servant came, whose name was
Madeleine. She soon found out that I did not take care of my own
things. She got excited, and said I was a great big lazy girl, and
that I made other people wait on me as though I were a countess. She
said it was a shame to make poor little Marie Renaud work. Bonne Nйron
agreed with her, and said I was puffed up with pride, that I thought I
was better than anybody else, that I never did anything like other
girls. They both said, together, that they had never seen a girl like
me, and both of them leaned over me and shouted at me together. They
made me think of two noisy fairies, a black one and a white one.
Madeleine was fresh and fair, with full, open lips, and teeth which
were wide apart. Her tongue was broad and thick, and moved about into
the corners of her mouth when she talked. Bonne Nйron raised her hand
to me, and said, "Drop your eyes this minute!" As they went away, I
heard her say to Madeleine: "She makes you ashamed of yourself when she
looks at you like that." I had known for a long time that Bonne Nйron
looked like a bull, but I could not find out what animal Madeleine was
like. I thought it over for several days, thinking of all the animals
I knew, and at last I gave it up. She was fat, and her hips swayed
when she walked. She had a piercing voice, which surprised everybody.
She asked leave to sing in church, but as she did not know the hymns.
Sister Marie-Aimйe told me to teach her. After that Marie Renaud was
allowed to brush and smooth out my things without anybody taking any
notice of it. She was so pleased that she gave me a safety-pin as a
present, so as to fasten up my handkerchief, which I was always losing.
Two days later I lost both the safety-pin and the handkerchief. Oh,
that handkerchief! It was a perfect nightmare! I used to lose one
regularly every week. Sister Marie-Aimйe gave us a clean
pocket-handkerchief in return for the dirty one which we had to throw
down on to the ground in front of her. I never thought of mine till
the last moment. And then I turned out all my pockets, I ran about
like a mad thing into the dormitory, up and down the passages, and up
to the garret hunting for it everywhere. Oh dear, oh dear! if I could
only find a handkerchief somewhere! As I passed in front of the
picture of the Virgin, I would put my hands together and pray
fervently,