BOOK THIRD.
THE MASSACRE OF SAINT-BARTHOLOMEW
CHAPTER I.
The children awoke.
The little girl first.
The wakening of children is like the opening of flowers; it seems as if a perfume came from their fresh souls.
Georgette, the one twenty months old, the youngest of the three, who was still nursing in May, raised her little head, sat up, looked at her feet, and began to prattle.
A ray of morning light fell on her crib; it would have been hard to tell which was the rosier, Georgette's foot or the dawn.
The other two were still asleep; men are more dull; Georgette, happy and serene, went on prattling.
René-Jean was dark, Gros-Alain was sandy, Georgette was fair. These shades of hair, in harmony with the age during childhood, may change later on. René-Jean looked like a little Hercules; he was sleeping on his stomach, with his two fists doubled up over his eyes. Both of Gros-Alain's legs were hanging out of his little bed.
All three were in rags; the clothes that the battalion of Bonnet-Rouge had given them were in tatters; they hadn't even a shirt on them; the two boys were almost naked. Georgette was dressed in a rag which had once been a skirt and was now nothing but a bodice. Who took care of these children? It was impossible to tell. No mother. These savage peasants, fighting, and dragging them along with them from forest to forest, gave them their share of soup. That was all. The little ones got on as they could. They had everybody for master, and
