My toilette was no
trifling affair. All the good sisters clustered round me, and
tried to beautify me with the same care and patience as they would
have displayed in adorning the Virgin's statue for a fete-day. A
secret instinct warned me that they were overdoing the matter, and
that they were making me look ridiculous; but I did not mind. I
allowed them to please themselves I could still feel Madame
Greloux's tears on my hand, and the scene seemed to me as
lugubrious as the last toilette of a prisoner under sentence of
death. When they had completed their task, I heard a buzz of
admiration round me. If the sisters were worthy of belief, they
had never seen such a wonderful transformation. Those who were in
the class-rooms or thee sewing-room, were summoned to view and
admire me, and some of the elder children were also admitted.
Perhaps I was intended as an example for the latter, for I heard
the lady superior say to them, 'You see, my dear children, the
result of good behavior. Be diligent and dutiful, like our dear
Marguerite, and God will reward you as He has rewarded her.' And,
meantime, miserable in my finery, I waited--waited for M. de
Chalusse, who was coming to take me away.
"At the appointed hour he appeared, with the same air of haughty
reserve, that had so awed me on the occasion of our first meeting.
He scarcely deigned to look at me, and although I watched him with
poignant anxiety, I could read neither blame nor approval on his
face.
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