Madame de la Tour, and they offered up together their morning prayer. This
sacrifice of thanksgiving always preceded their first repast, which they
often partook before the door of the cottage, seated upon the grass, under
a canopy of plantain; and while the branches of that delightful tree
afforded a grateful shade, its solid fruit furnished food ready prepared by
nature; and its long glossy leaves, spread upon the table, supplied the
want of linen.

"Plentiful and wholesome nourishment gave early growth and vigour to the
persons of those children, and their countenances expressed the purity and
peace of their souls. At twelve years of age the figure of Virginia was in
some degree formed: a profusion of light hair shaded her face, to which her
blue eyes and coral lips gave the most charming brilliancy. Her eyes
sparkled with vivacity when she spoke; but when she was silent, her look
had a cast upwards, which gave it an expression of extreme sensibility, or
rather of tender melancholy. Already the figure of Paul displayed the
graces of manly beauty. He was taller than Virginia; his skin was of a
darker tint; his nose more aquiline; and his black eyes would have been too
piercing, if the long eyelashes, by which were shaded, had not given them a
look of softness. He was constantly in motion, except when his sister
appeared; and then, placed at her side, he became quiet. Their meals often
passed in silence, and, from the grace of their attitudes, the beautiful
proportions of their figures, and their naked feet, you might have fancied
you beheld an antique group of white marble, representing some of the
children of Niobe; if those eyes which sought to meet those smiles which
were answered by smiles of the most tender softness, had not rather given
you the idea of those happy celestial spirits, whose nature is love, and
who are not obliged to have recourse to words for the expression of that
intuitive sentiment. In the mean time, Madame de la Tour, perceiving every
day some unfolding grace, some new beauty, in her daughter, felt her