"Only a few hours, tante-gra'mère. It is early in the night."
Her withered face was quite wrathful.
"The water is all over the floor, madame. We are standing to our ankles. In a few minutes we shall be standing to our knees. Look at it. Do you hear the roaring and the wash outside? Kaskaskia is under water, and the people have to climb to the roofs."
The aged woman always listened incredulously to Peggy. She now craned over the side of the bed, and examined for herself streams like quicksilver slipping along the dark boards.
"Why did you not do something to prevent this, instead of coming in here to break my rest?" she inquired.
Captain Saucier extended his hands to lift her, but she lay down again, holding the whip bolt upright.
"If I go to the attic, Captain Saucier, my bed goes with me."
"There is not time to move it."
"And there is such a beautiful bed up there, quite ready, with all your cushions."
"My bed goes with me," repeated tante-gra'mère.