"Are you suffering, cousin?" she asked.
The young girl did not reply, obstinately studying a rent in the cloth, too preoccupied by the reflections passing through her mind. Then she raised her head with pain, and looked at the sympathising face bent over hers. The others had gone, then? What was she doing on this chair? And suddenly a flood of sobs stifled her, her head fell forward on the edge of the table. She wept on, wetting her sleeve with her tears.
"Good heavens! what's the matter with you?" cried Denise in dismay. "Shall I call some one?"
Geneviève nervously seized her by the arm, and held her back, stammering: "No, no, stay. Don't let mamma know! With you I don't mind; but not the others—not the others! It's not my fault, I assure you. It was on finding myself all alone. Wait a
