Then, by a simultaneous movement, full of touching grace, they pressed the writing of their father in silence to their lips.
"You will see also, my children, at the end of this letter, why I was surprised that your guardian angel, as you say, should be called Gabriel.

Read, read," added the soldier, observing the puzzled air of the orphans.

"Only I ought to tell you that, when he wrote this, the general had not yet fallen in with the traveller who brought the papers." Rose, sitting up in her bed, took the leaves, and began to read in a soft and trembling voice, Blanche, with her head resting on her sister's shoulder, followed attentively every word.

One could even see, by the slight motion of her lips, that she too was reading, but only to herself..