﻿196 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



as a beverage, and, at the same time, dessert for this improvised sup- 

 per. The little girl saluted Bathilde, and prepared to depart. 



" Why do you not speak, my darling ? " asked Bathilde, a little 

 surprised. 



The other replied by a little movement of the head and shoulders, 

 which signified that she did not understand. 



" Are you dumb ? " cried the generous child, with an expression 

 of anxiety and grief. 



Without replying, the poor child seized her tambourine, shaking 

 the bells lightly, and passing her little thumb over the sonorous skin 

 of the instrument, and, with this accompaniment, chanted two lively 

 couplets in a language which was not that of Bathilde. The song 

 finished, she executed two light pirouettes, which filled her little 

 short petticoat with air. 



At this moment, a shrill and stern voice resounded in the distance, 

 calling, " Aca, Pepita ! Aca" 



The songstress sprang lightly up, saluted the gentle Bathilde, 

 throwing her a kiss, and saying, " Gracias, senorita ; vaga vm. con 

 Dios." Then, light as the wind, she fled, and quickly disap- 

 peared. 



Astonished, and, without suspecting it, experiencing an interest 

 mingled with curiosity for the child who had so gayly eaten her cake 

 and cherries, who sang so well, and danced so gracefully, Bathilde 

 directed her steps, with all the agility of her little feet, towards the 

 spot where she had disappeared. 



M'me de Blinval had come only two months previously to inhabit a 

 country-house situated in the midst of the valley of Berry ; so her 

 daughter Bathilde, who had sometimes been allowed to run alone with 

 her goat in the neighboring fields, found herself as it were in a for- 

 eign land as soon as she had strayed a few steps from her old wil- 

 low. The dear child had ventured into the paths of a warren, where 

 she was soon entirely lost. In attempting to retrace her steps, she 

 buried herself still deeper in the wood ; and after wandering an hour 

 and a half, anxiously and rapidly, her little limbs refused to carry 

 her further. Meanwhile, night came on, and she seated herself on a 

 bank of turf, weeping despairingly with her head on her lap. The 

 hours rolled away ; she comprehended that if she did not s-icceed in 



