Magnificent looked the huge horseshoe table set out amid the grass, with
handsome china and snowy cloths which the sunbeams flecked athwart the
foliage. The august pair, the father and mother, were to sit side by
side, in the centre, under the oak tree. It was decided also that the
other couples should not be separated, that it would be charming to place
them side by side according to the generation they belonged to. But as
for the young folks, the youths and maidens, the urchins and the little
girls, they, it was thought, might well be left to seat themselves as
their fancy listed.
Early in the morning those bidden to the feast began to arrive in bands;
the dispersed family returned to the common nest, swooping down upon it
from the four points of the compass. But alas! death's scythe had been at
work, and there were many who could not come. Departed ones slept, each
year more numerous, in the peaceful, flowery, Janville cemetery. Near
Rose and Blaise, who had been the first to depart, others had gone
thither to sleep the eternal sleep, each time carrying away a little more
of the family's heart, and making of that sacred spot a place of worship
and eternal souvenir.
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