Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/171

154 is good to have some one come to see you. The next time I come I shall bring you a bag of bon-bons. My grandmother, every time I go to see her, gives me some. I love my grandmother much. Does any one love you, M. Alphonse?"

The old man sighed.

"I have had little love in my life," he said, "and all that there was ended long ago."

Aimée nodded her head sagely.

"That is very bad," she said.

"Once I had a little girl like you," the old man went on. "She loved me; but she is dead."

"That also," said the child. "Poor M. Alphonse!"

"Why did she die?" cried the man with a sudden fierceness, throwing out his arms as if to the child he had lost.

To his great surprise Aimée flew down the steps and flung her own small arms about his neck.