“It is so dark and cold. Will summer ever come?” she said. Mother Barbette gave a reassuring little laugh.
“Surely summer is coming, Little Mademoiselle, and with it the sunshine”—and her voice faltered a little as she went on—“and the dear ones who are away!”
Something in Mother Barbette’s words comforted Marie Josephine. She gave her a hug and said: “I love you, Mother Barbette. I must run back now, for, as it is, I know that I shall be well scolded by Le Pont for being out after dark.”
“Jean shall go with you through the wood, though there is never any fear for any one in our woods at Les Vignes, thank the kind God,” said Mother Barbette fervently. She stood in the low-arched doorway of the cottage watching the two children as they made their way toward their favorite wood path which led to the great house on the terrace.
The two friends ran a little of the way and then suddenly Jean stopped in the middle of the path and caught Marie Josephine’s cloak in both his hands. A wild rabbit scudded through the snow, popping behind a glistening, frost-tinted bush. Jean called after it, and then turned back to look at his friend.
“Listen, Little Mademoiselle. Don’t you know what I must do? When you go away to Paris in the spring I must go with you.” He, too, lowered his voice to a whisper, and he looked back over his shoulder, as though he feared that his mother might be right behind them, listening.
Marie Josephine took him by the shoulders and gave him a little shake. “You will not go. Not for anything in the world would I let you go. Do you think I would be such an ungrateful girl as that to Mother Barbette? You are never to speak of it again—never!” Marie Josephine was so excited that she had to take a deep breath before she could go on. “Oh, if only you could! But we must never, never talk of it again!” Her eyes glowed as she spoke, and there was a glad, warm feeling in her heart. It was good to have a friend like Jean, even though he seemed so young for twelve and a half and knew so little of the world beyond Les Vignes!
They reached the wide sweep of terrace and she turned to him quickly. “I must run, for I am sure they will be angry because it is dark. Le Pont has grown so fussy and afraid. She cries a great deal, too. Thank you for saying you would go with me. It can never, never be done. It would be unfair and dishonorable of me to let you go. A Saint Frère could not do such a thing—— But it would have been fun!”
She was off, running across the terrace like a wild rabbit. The governess was standing at the top of the veranda steps. Marie Josephine could see that she was frowning.
“You make it so much harder for me these days, Marie Josephine,” she said, holding her dark satin cloak close about her. The wind swept across the porch, making the dry, frozen lily stalks at the side of the house crackle oddly. “I am never at ease about you. You never seem to be in the house. To-morrow you will stay inside all day, and you will do extra lessons. You are disobedient and thoughtless!” After she had spoken Madame le Pont went into the house.