"Well!" he said; "here they are; what do you think of them?"
"Why, they are in excellent condition, so far as I can see."
"Ah! I'll make hearty little chaps of them, I tell you! They're such merry, lively rascals!"
"So I see; just tell them not to pinch me so hard. Here's one of them who won't let go my calf."
"It's only play, my dear fellow. They wake me like this every morning. Tell me, is there any greater pleasure?"
"Yes, to a father, it must be perfectly charming; but to an uncle, you see, it hasn't quite the same fascination."
"Parbleu! it rests entirely with you to become acquainted with that pleasure; marry, and have children; they'll caress you as these little fellows caress me."
"Come, my hearties, kiss your uncle and let him dress."
To prove their affection, the "hearties" threw themselves on my stomach, seized my head, and, while kissing me, rubbed their faces clean and wiped their noses on my cheeks and nose; they tried to see which would kiss me the more. I was suffocating, I cried for mercy; their papa was forced to order them to desist, but they listened to him no more than to me, and kept on as before. Luckily, my sister arrived and the scene changed.
"What!" she exclaimed, striding angrily toward her husband; "you brought the children to their uncle before I had washed and dressed them and combed their hair?"
"Well! what of that, my dear love? must they be in their Sunday best to bid their uncle good-morning?"
"It isn't a question of Sunday best; but I should have liked Eugène to see them first when they were decently clean; and when they have once begun to play, it isn't possible to keep them looking decent. But you do everything without consulting me!"
"I assure you, my dear sister, that I consider them very nice as they are."
"Come, young gentlemen, breakfast is waiting."
The word _breakfast_ caused my little rascals to decamp at once; they were soon off my bed, and I was able to rise.
It seemed to me that examples of wedded bliss succeeded each other rather swiftly under my sister's roof. But I was inclined to think that, if I should marry, I should not take them as patterns in the matter of bringing up children. But I had arrived only the night before, and it was fair to wait before forming a final judgment.