"Hullo! you children! what are you doing there?" called out old Duplay.
"Here we are! Here we are!" answered Victoire, appearing that moment on the threshold of the dining-room in a pretty white dress, coquettishly pushing back her hair, disordered by her hasty toilet.
"Doesn't it suit me?" she said. "Oh! don't look at my hair; it isn't arranged," and she ran down the steps followed by Madame Lebas and Cornélie, also arrayed in their new finery.
Mother Duplay scolded her daughters.
"What! You dressed yourselves in the dining-room? Why, it is positively improper! Isn't it, Maximilien?"
Robespierre smiled.
"Let them alone, bonne mère. It's not fête every day!"
And he looked at the dresses, pronouncing them charming, and in perfect taste.
Madame Lebas was in blue, Victoire in white, and Cornélie in red.
"The three colours!" observed the boy Maurice.