MADELINE. 127

“Do you ever go, Madame Virot, to your old home near
the chateau of my grandmother?” she asked.

“Seldom, my child.”

“<T wish you would take me there,” said Madeline, with the
courage of her desire.

“Oh, no; impossible! ‘Your grandmother would not
receive you. She is old; she remains always at home; she
receives not a visitor; you would not be permitted to enter
even the lodge.”

That was discouraging, and still Madeline’s longing to see
‘her mother’s old home was so great that, by dint of much
coaxing, she finally extracted a promise from the good-natured
woman that the next time she visited her relatives Madeline
should go with her, provided she did not make any attempt
to see her grandmother.

So one fair May morning they started off, Madeline having
obtained permission to take a little trip with Madame Virot,
but neither telling of their destination.

It was an exciting moment to Madeline, that in which
she beheld from afar the home of her mother’s child-
hood.

Madame Virot, talking volubly with her old neighbors,
gave assent when Madeline begged to go a little nearer.

“Only to the crossing of the roads,” charged Madame
Virot, and Madeline promised.

She gazed about her at the landscape so familiar to her