316 TASHBAK
boys with books under their arms, their faces full of the zest of life, and dancing and jumping till the whole street seemed to be jumping and dancing, too. Elder people turned smilingly aside to make way for them. Among the children Rosalie espied two little girls, also with books under their arms, her little girls ! And the mother's heart suddenly brimmed with joy, a delicious warmth stole into her limbs and filled her being.
Rosalie went to the door to meet her two children on their return from school, and when she had given each little face a motherly kiss, she felt a breath of freshness and new life blowing round her.
She took off their cloaks, and listened to their childish prattle about their teachers and the day's lessons.
The clear voices rang through the rooms, awaking sympathetic echoes in every corner. The home wore a new aspect, and the sun shone even more brightly than before and in more friendly, kindly fashion.
The mother spread a little cloth at the edge of the table, gave them milk and sandwiches, and looked at them as they ate each child the picture of the mother, her eyes, her hair, her nose, her look, her gestures they ate just as she would do.
And Rosalie feels much better and happier. She doesn't care so much now about the furniture being old, the dresses worn, the china service not being whole, about the wrinkles round her eyes and in her forehead. She only minds about her husband's being so worn-out, so absent-minded that he cannot take pleasure in the children as she can.
