It would be a kind of wedding rehearsal, she
exclaimed with her hearty laugh; they would be able to arrange the
programme for the great day. And her idea enraptured her to such a point,
she seemed to anticipate so much delight from this preliminary festival,
that Mathieu and Marianne consented to it.
Rose's marriage was like the supreme blossoming of years of prosperity,
and brought a finishing touch to the happiness of the home. She was the
prettiest of Mathieu's daughters, with dark brown hair, round gilded
cheeks, merry eyes, and charming mouth. And she had the most equable of
dispositions, her laughter ever rang out so heartily! She seemed indeed
to be the very soul, the good fairy, of that farm teeming with busy life.
But beneath the invariable good humor which kept her singing from morning
till night there was much common sense and energy of affection, as her
choice of a husband showed. Eight years previously Mathieu had engaged
the services of one Frederic Berthaud, the son of a petty farmer of the
neighborhood. This sturdy young fellow had taken a passionate interest in
the creative work of Chantebled, learning and working there with rare
activity and intelligence.
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