All was hushed, but a white figure stood in the room--Madame in her night-dress.

Moving without perceptible sound, she visited the three children in the three beds; she approached me: I feigned sleep, and she studied me long.

A small pantomime ensued, curious enough.

I daresay she sat a quarter of an hour on the edge of my bed, gazing at my face.
She then drew nearer, bent close over me; slightly raised my cap, and turned back the border so as to expose my hair; she looked at my hand lying on the bedclothes.

This done, she turned to the chair where my clothes lay: it was at the foot of the bed.