'We have a girl at last,' they all cried, and as for the bon papa he knew not what to do for pleasure.
"I shall have a little grand-daughter to lead me about when my sight is gone, I shall live the longer for this gift of thine,' he said to my mother, whom he was very fond of.

She was a good daughter-in-law to him.
She shall be called 'Marie, shall she not?
The first girl, and so long looked for.

And, Eulalie,' he told my mother, 'this day, the day of her birth, I shall plant an apple-tree, a seedling of the best stock, a 'reinette,' in the best corner of the orchard, and it shall be her tree.
They shall grow together, and to both we will give the best care, and as the one prospers the other will prosper, and when trouble comes to the one, the other will droop and fade till again the storms have passed away.

The tree shall be called 'le pommier de la petite.'" "My mother smiled; she thought it the fancy of the old man, but she was pleased he should so occupy himself with the little baby girl.

And he did as he said: that very day he planted the apple-tree in the sunniest corner of the orchard.