between mine,—that strong and loyal hand. At that moment the teacher entered hastily, with a red face, and said, in a low, quick voice, with a joyful intonation:—
“Good, all is going well now, let the rest come forward; bravi, boys! Courage! I am extremely well satisfied.”
And, in order to show us his contentment, and to cheer us, as he went out in haste, he made a motion of stumbling and of catching at the wall, to prevent a fall; he whom we had never seen laugh! The thing appeared so strange, that, instead of laughing, we were dumbfounded; all smiled, but no one laughed.
Well, I do not know,—that act of childish joy caused both pain and tenderness. All his reward was that moment of cheerfulness,—it was the compensation for nine months of kindness, patience, and even sorrow! For that he had toiled so long; for that he had so often gone to give lessons to a sick boy, poor teacher! That and nothing more was what he demanded of us, in exchange for so much affection and so much care!
And, now, it seems to me that I shall always see him in that act, when I recall him through many years; when I have become a man, if he be alive, and we meet, I shall tell him about that deed which touched my heart; and I shall give him a kiss on his white head.
