The two women were waiting for him, working as usual, but with a sort of feverish activity which was strange to them.

Every moment the great scissors that Mamma Delobelle used to cut the brass wire were seized with strange fits of trembling, and Desiree's little fingers, as she mounted an insect, moved so fast that it made one dizzy to watch them.

Even the long feathers of the little birds scattered about on the table before her seemed more brilliant, more richly colored, than on other days.

It was because a lovely visitor named Hope had called upon them that evening.
She had made the tremendous effort required to climb five dark flights of stairs, and had opened the door of the little room to cast a luminous glance therein.

However much you may have been deceived in life, those magic gleams always dazzle you.
"Oh! if your father could only succeed!" said Mamma Delobelle from time to time, as if to sum up a whole world of happy thoughts to which her reverie abandoned itself.
"He will succeed, mamma, never fear.