My dear daughter, if I have talked very much about Alix it is because
talking about her is such pleasure. She has been so good to my sister and
me! The memory of her is one of the brightest of my youth.

The flatboat was to go in three days. One morning, when we had passed the
night with Mme. Gerbeau, Patrick came running to say that "Madame 'Lix"
wished to see us at once. We hastened to the cottage. Alix met us on the
gallery [veranda].

"Come in, dear girls. I have a surprise for you and a great favor to ask.
I heard you say, Suzanne, you had nothing to wear--"

"But our camayeu petticoats!"

"But your camayeu petticoats." She smiled.

"And they, it seems, do not tempt your vanity. You want better?"

"Ah, indeed we do!" replied Suzanne.

"Well, let us play Cinderella. The dresses of velvet, silk, and lace, the
jewels, the slippers--all are in yonder chest. Listen, my dear girls. Upon
the first signs of the Revolution my frightened mother left France and
crossed into England. She took with her all her wardrobe, her jewels, the
pictures from her bedroom, and part of her plate. She bought, before
going, a quantity of silks and ribbons.... When I reached England my
mother was dead, and all that she had possessed was restored to me by the
authorities. My poor mother loved dress, and in that chest is all her
apparel. Part of it I had altered for my own use; but she was much larger