We are élléasandMéin the part of the garden behind the house. They never come here. The doors are on the other side.--They are closed, and the shutters are up. But there are no shutters on this side, and I saw a light.... Yes; they are sitting up still under the lamp. It is fortunate they have not heard us; the mother or the young girls would have come out, perhaps, and then what should we have done?...
I should like to see, first, if they are all in the room. Yes, I see the father sitting in the chimney-corner. He waits, with his hands on his knees;... the mother is resting her elbow on the table.
No; she doesn't know where she is looking: her eyes do not wink. She cannot see us; we are in the shade of great trees. But do not go any nearer.... The two sisters of the dead girl are in the room too. They are embroidering slowly; and the little child is asleep. It is nine by the clock in the corner.... They suspect nothing, and they do not speak.
If one could draw the father's attention, and make him some sign? He has turned his head this way. Would you like me to knock at one of the windows? One of them ought to be told before the others....
I don't know which one to choose.... We must take great precautions.... The father is old and ailing.... So is the mother; and the sisters are too young.... And they all loved her with such love as will never be again.... I never saw a happier household.... No, no, do not go near the window; that would be worse than anything else.... It is better to announce it as simply as possible,--as if it were an ordinary event,--and not to look too sad; for otherwise their grief will wish to be greater than yours and will know of nothing more that it can do.... Let us go on the other side of the garden. We will knock at the door and go in as if nothing had happened. I will go in first: they will not be surprised to see me; I come sometimes in the evening, to bring them flowers or fruit, and pass a few hours with them.
Why must I go with you? Go alone; I will wait till I am called.... They have never seen me.... I am only a passer-by; I am a stranger....
It is better not to be alone. A sorrow that one does not bring alone is not so unmixed nor so heavy.... I was thinking of that as we were coming here.... If I go in alone, I shall have to be speaking from the first minute; in a few words they will know everything, and I shall have nothing more to say; and I am afraid of the silence following the last words that announce a woe.... It is then the heart is rent.... If we go in together, I shall tell them, for example, after going a long way about, "She was found so.... She was floating in the river, and her hands were clasped."...