When Paula had finished she exclaimed "Oh, mamma! mamma! Tell her to please
sing again."
Mme. Bertin could not suppress a cry of delight as she said, "Dear
Mademoiselle Paula, please sing another song! Never have I seen my
Marguerite so happy." And so Paula sang hymn after hymn. As Paula at last
stopped singing, for the time had come to go home, poor Marguerite
stretched out her arms as if groping for something.
"Please do not be offended, Mademoiselle Paula," implored Madame Bertin;
"she wants you to come nearer that she may feel your face. The blind have
no other eyes." Paula kneeled at Marguerite's side and the blind girl
passed her hands gently over the upturned face, pausing an instant at the
broad forehead, then on over the beautiful arched brows and long eyelashes
and the delicately-fashioned nose and lips, that smiled softly as she
touched them.
"You have not seen her hair," said the mother, as she guided the girl's
hands upward and over the waves of light brown hair that seemed like an
aurora fit for such a face, and then finally down the long braids that
extended below Paula's waist Then with one of those sudden movements
characteristic of the blind, she carried the shining braids to her lips and
kissed them as in an ecstasy.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182