"
Madame de Fleury came in whilst Sister Frances was yet bending down to
hear this secret; it was repeated to her, and she immediately ordered
that a certain allowance of bread should be given to Annette every day to
carry to her mother during her illness.
"I give it in charge to you, Victoire, to remember this, and I am sure it
will never be forgotten. Here is an order for you upon my baker: run and
show it to Annette. This is a pleasure you deserve; I am glad that you
have chosen for your friend a girl who is so good a daughter. Good
daughters make good friends."
By similar instances of goodness Victoire obtained the love and
confidence of her companions, notwithstanding her manifest superiority.
In their turn, they were eager to proclaim her merits; and, as Sister
Frances and Madame de Fleury administered justice with invariable
impartiality, the hateful passions of envy and jealousy were never
excited in this little society. No servile sycophant, no malicious
detractor, could rob or defraud their little virtues of their due reward.
"Whom shall I trust to take this to Madame de Fleury?" said Sister
Frances, carrying into the garden where the children were playing a pot
of fine jonquils, which she had brought from her convent.--"These are the
first jonquils I have seen this year, and finer I never beheld! Whom
shall I trust to take them to Madame de Fleury this evening?--It must be
some one who will not stop to stare about on the way, but who will be
very, very careful--some one in whom I can place perfect dependence.
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