“Oh!” cried the girls in chorus. “Oh, Gretli! Oh, Madame, may we?”
Madame looked doubtful. “It is too much--” she began.
“With respect!” cried Gretli. “They are made entirely of cream; is it not so, Zitli? Yesterday we made them, Zitli and I, expressly for our demoiselles. Quite frankly, the new-born infant might eat them without injury. They are even thought to be stomachic in their quality.”
“That was far from being my thought,” Madame explained graciously. “I feared we might rob you, my Gretli; but since you have made this charming present for my pupils--come, my children! you have permission to accept--not forgetting, I trust, the thanks that are due!”
A chorus of delight and thanks broke out, as the neat little rolls of silver-papered cheese, each stamped _Châlet des Rochers_, were dealt out. Maria Patterson and Vivette proposed to eat theirs on the spot; Loulou tried to stuff hers into her pocket.
Gretli offered a better suggestion. “This basket,” she said, “will hold all, and my young ladies will, I trust, enjoy at their supper the little fruits of the Châlet. For the moment, I will ask you to mount once more to the room.”
Then, bending down from her towering height, she whispered in Honor’s ear. “In the basket is already a _fromage Camembert_ for the evening repast of my Ladies. It is their favorite cheese; we send it, Atli, Zitli and I, as a little surprise, Mademoiselle understands.”
Honor nodded comprehension, and took the basket, in which the silver rolls were now neatly stored.
Zitli had preceded them some minutes ago, up the ladder-stair which led down to the cheese room. As they came up blinking into the strong sunlight, they saw his beaming face behind a little table, on which was a plate of curious little biscuits or cookies stamped in the shape of a cow, a glass pitcher of rich cream, and a number of little wooden bowls and spoons.
“A little _goûter_!” (luncheon) Gretli hastened forward to explain. “Before making the descent! My Ladies remember well the _biscuits des Rochers_, to be eaten with cream; sustaining, you observe, and wholesome--ah! _par example_!”
“Remember them!” cried Soeur Séraphine. “Could we forget? Regard, my children! When we were young girls of your age, the good grandmother of our friends prepared this feast yearly for us. We came with our honored parents, now in glory; it is to make weep with pleasure and remembrance, the sight of them!”