The Fear of Living by Henry Bordeaux

"Good evening, Mamma. " Paule called her Mamma when she wished to show her child's love the most.

Madame Guibert came in, stooping a little, wrapped in an old and well-worn fur cloak. The lamp-shade prevented her noticing how pale her daughter was as she kissed her. She came nearer to the fire.

"Oh, how good it is to be at home again! And how one loves these old houses! Do you remember, Paule, how sad we were when we thought we should have to leave Le Maupas? " She warmed her wrinkled hands at the flames. Paule came up behind her and took off her bonnet.

"Keep your cloak on, Mother dear, for a few minutes. You were very cold, weren't you?"

Madame Guibert turned to look at her daughter. She smiled at her, and the smile under her grey hair, on a face whose cheeks were still young, whose blue eyes were trusting and clear, was as sweet as the last roses of the year, which still bloom under the snow.

"Dear child, to look at you warms me more than do these logs that you have put on the fire for me."

The girl knelt down to take the kettle off the fire.

"You are going to have some boiling hot grog."

As she got up, her mother had time to notice in the light how pale she was.

"But you are the one who should be looked after, Paule. You are quite white. You are ill, and you never told me."

The old lady got up at once.

"Oh, it isn't serious, Mother dear. You must not worry. Perhaps I took a slight chill waiting for you on the balcony. I will go to bed directly after supper. " And to calm the motherly fears she had the courage to repeat laughingly: "It is nothing at all, Mother, I assure you. " She was thinking that the dining-room lamp would show her face too clearly and suggested: "Suppose we have our supper here before the fire! This room is more comfortable."

"But the table is laid already."

"It can soon be changed. You will see."

"Very well, dear. You are icy cold. And in Trélaz's open carriage one is exposed to the worst of the weather."

As her daughter went out, after having poured out a few spoonfuls of rum into the glass, she added:

"Tell Marie to take down one or two bottles of wine to Trélaz. He deserves them."

According to the old Savoy custom, the farmer's family lived in the basement of the house.

Paule had just finished clearing the table in the dining-room when the servant came back with a terrified face.

"Miss Paule, poor Miss Paule! What is this I hear?"