The atmosphere was warm and blue, and a blackbird trilled in the garden; everything seemed to live in happiness.

They found a little hat of soft brown plush, but it was entirely moth-eaten.

Felicite asked for it.

Their eyes met and filled with tears; at last the mistress opened her arms and the servant threw herself against her breast and they hugged each other and giving vent to their grief in a kiss which equalized them for a moment.
It was the first time that this had ever happened, for Madame Aubain was not of an expansive nature.

Felicite was as grateful for it as if it had been some favour, and thenceforth loved her with animal-like devotion and a religious veneration.
Her kind-heartedness developed.