"I give you my word, Louise, I had forgotten there was such a thing as
marriage in the world for me! I had forgotten it as completely as the
chronology of the Merovingian dynasty, alas! with all the other school
things forgotten. And I do not believe Clementine remembered there was
such a possibility in the world for me. _Mon Dieu!_ when a girl is
poor she may have all the beauty in the world--not that I had beauty,
only a little prettiness. But you should have seen Clementine! She
screamed for joy when she told me. Oh, there was but one answer
according to her, and according to everybody she could consult, in her
haste. They all said it was a dispensation of Providence in my favor.
He was young, he was strong; he did not make a fortune, it was true,
but he made a good living. And what an assistance to have a man in
the family!--an assistance for Clementine and the children. But the
principal thing, after all, was, he wanted to marry me. Nobody had
ever wanted that before, my dear!

"Quick, quick, it was all arranged. All my friends did something for
me. One made my _peignoirs_ for me, one this, one that--_ma foi!_
I did not recognize myself. One made all the toilet of the bureau,
another of the bed, and we all sewed on the wedding-dress together.
And you should have seen Clementine, going out in all her great
mourning, looking for a house, looking for a servant! But the wedding
was private on account of poor papa. But you know, Loulou, I had never
time to think, except about Clementine and the children, and when I
thought of all those poor little children, poor papa's children, I
said 'Quick, quick,' like the rest.

"It was the next day, the morning after the wedding, I had time to
think. I was sitting here, just as you see me now, in my pretty new