CHAPTER IV.
MAURICE’S FATHER IS ILL.—A RICH LITTLE GIRL.—A FAMILY IN DISTRESS.—WHAT OUGHT MAURICE TO DO?
Some months later, when the Spring had come on, and the sun was beginning to give warmth, while the air was already perfumed with violets, Maurice was walking, one beautiful morning, in the Luxembourg gardens. He had Cressida with him, whom he sometimes rode and sometimes led, and Jacques the old servant was also there. A number of children were in the gardens, playing at different games, and enjoying themselves in the bright sunshine. They were chattering away too as gaily as the little wild birds overhead were singing in the soft air.
Maurice alone was not amusing himself, and old Jacques the servant walked after him in silence, looking as sad as his young master. Alas! my kind-hearted little readers, you will be grieved, I know, when you hear the cause of my little friend’s sadness: Maurice’s father was seriously ill.
That very morning Maurice had been present, without any one knowing it, at a consultation between two famous doctors, who were attending his father. He happened to be in the drawing-room, standing at a window and half hidden behind the curtain, when they came in, and they had not observed him. Although he did not understand all they said, he heard enough to cause him great unhappiness and alarm. He had now come into the Luxembourg gardens—not because he thought of amusing or enjoying himself, but because his mamma had wished him to go out.
MAURICE WAS PRESENT AT A CONSULTATION.
While he was sitting on Cressida’s back, with the reins thrown carelessly on its neck, and moving at a slow walk to suit his thoughtful and sad mood, he noticed that a little girl, rather older than himself, was coming towards him as if she wished to say something. She was accompanied by a lady, too young to be her mother, of a graceful figure though simply dressed. The little girl, whose face expressed a bold and decided character, called out to Maurice,—
“Young gentleman, sell me your horse.”
“Sell Cressida!” cried Maurice, with astonishment. “Oh, no, certainly not.”