Then, without a word, she would slip from her seat, and, walking solemnly, rather haughtily, would join some group of children.

Day after day the same children came to the gardens, and they all of them knew Sarah by now.

Hortense, in her turn also, sitting, stiff and superior, would watch.

She would see Sarah's pleasant approach, her smile, her amiability.

Very soon, however, there would be trouble--some child would cry out; there would be blows; nurses would run forward, scoldings, protests, captives led away weeping ...