"What! Your own mother, and no time to attend to her child?"
"Yes, madam. But she has servants to attend to me." "Servants! Yes, I think so," said Jacquot. "They let you fall into the water, and you would have been drowned, if it hadn't been for me. But come, children, let us have our supper."
They sat down at the table. The mother gave each a tin plate and a wooden spoon, and then helped them all to boiled beans. The father cut slices from a loaf of brown bread.
The little stranger came and sat with them. But he would not eat anything.
"You must tell us who your mother is," said Mrs. Jacquot. "We must let her know that you are safe."
"Of course she will be glad to know that," said the boy; "but she has no time to bother about me to-night."
"Is she like our mother?" asked Chariot.
"She is handsomer."
"But ours is better. She is always doing something for us," said
Blondel.
"Mine gives me fine clothes and plenty of money to spend," said the stranger.