life or movement than there was within, but still a little
better. Over the high walls surrounding the houses opposite
green trees were waving; at one end of the street there was
the gleam of a river, a bridge, and a row of poplars; the
other end she could not see, for the street made a bend, and a
fountain with dribbling water filled up the angle. Presently a
little boy in a blue blouse, and a little girl with a tight
round white cap, came up to the stone basin, each with a
pitcher to fill; they were a long time about it, for what
would be pleasanter, on this hot summer morning, than to stand
dabbling one's fingers in the cool water? Madelon watched them
till she became possessed with an irresistible desire to do
the same. It was only a few steps off, and though she was
strictly forbidden by her father ever to go out alone, still--
she had so seldom an opportunity of being naughty, that her
present consciousness of disobedience rather added, perhaps,
to the zest of the adventure. She would go just for this once--
and in another moment she was out in the street. The little
boy and girl fled with full pitchers as she came up to the
fountain, suddenly awakened to a sense of the waste of time in
which they had been indulging; but that made no difference to
Madelon; she stood gazing with mute admiration at the open-
mouthed monsters, from whose wide jaws the water trickled into
the basin below; and then she held her hands to catch the
drops till they were quite cold, and thought it the best play
she had ever known. By-the-by, however, she began to look
about her in search of further excitement, and, emboldened by
success, turned the corner of the street, and ventured out of
sight of the hotel. On one side large _portes-cochères_ at
intervals, shutting in the white, green-shuttered houses, that