Only the kind, motherly
woman wanted to know how long it was since she had eaten, and seeing
the light of a little CABARET on the road, she stopped the carriage
and sent her son to fetch some bread and a cup of wine.
For I should have said that M. Darpent had been obliged to return in
the same carriage with us, since he could not accompany the Coadjutor
on his way back. He wished to have gone outside, lest his presence
should incommode our poor Meg; but it had begun to rain, and we could
not consent. Nor was Meg like a Frenchwoman, to want to break out in
fits the moment the strain was over.
He brought us out some galettes, as they call them, and each of us
sisters had a draught of wine, which did us a great deal of good.
Then we drove on in the dark as fast as we could, for the Coadjutor's
carriage had passed us while we were halting, and we wanted to enter
the gates at the same time with him.
I sat beside my sister, holding her hand, as it seemed to give her a
sense of safety; Madame Darpent was on her other side, Clement
opposite. We kept silence, for Madame Darpent declared that no
questions ought to be asked of Madame de Bellaise till the next
morning.
Presently we heard an unmistakable snoring from the old lady's
corner, and soon after I felt my sister's fingers relax and drop
mine, so that I knew she slept. Then I could not but begin to tell,
in the quiet and stillness, how my dear brother would thank and bless
him for what he had done for us.
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