The air was mild, and moist in its mildness, which seemed to her delightful.  A darkness slowly rising over the horizon induced her to lift her head.  To her imagination it seemed as if some gigantic bird with outstretched wings were hovering on high.  At first she saw nothing; the sky was clear; but at last, at the angle of the roof, a gloomy cloud made its appearance, sailing on and speedily enveloping the whole heaven.  Another squall was rising before a roaring west wind.  The daylight was quickly dying away, and the city grew dark, amidst a livid shimmer, which imparted to the house-fronts a rusty tinge.

Almost immediately afterwards the rain fell.  The streets were swept by it; the umbrellas were again opened; and the passers-by, fleeing in every direction, vanished like chaff.  One old lady gripped her skirts with both hands, while the torrent beat down on her bonnet as though it were falling from a spout.  And the rain travelled on; the cloud kept pace with the water ragefully falling upon Paris; the big drops enfiladed the avenues of the quays, with a gallop like that of a runaway horse, raising a white dust which rolled along the ground at a prodigious speed.  They also descended the Champs-Elysees, plunged into the long narrow streets of the Saint-Germain district, and at a bound filled up all the open spaces and deserted squares.  In a few seconds, behind this veil which grew thicker and thicker, the city paled and seemed to melt away.  It was as though a curtain were being drawn obliquely from heaven to earth.  Masses of vapor arose too; and the vast, splashing pit-a-pat was as deafening as any rattle of old iron.

Jeanne, giddy with the noise, started back.  A leaden wall seemed to have been built up before her.  But she was fond of rain; so she returned, leaned out again, and stretched out her arms to feel the big, cold rain-drops splashing on her hands.  This gave her some amusement, and she got wet to the sleeves.  Her doll must, of course, like herself, have a headache, and she therefore hastened to put it astride the window-rail, with its back against the side wall.  She thought, as she saw the drops pelting down upon it, that they were doing it some good.  Stiffly erect, its little teeth displayed in a never-fading smile, the doll sat there, with one shoulder streaming with water, while every gust of wind lifted up its night-dress.  Its poor body, which had lost some of its sawdust stuffing, seemed to be shivering.

What was the reason that had prevented her mother from taking her with her? wondered Jeanne.  The rain that beat down on her hands seemed a fresh inducement to be out.  It must be very nice, she argued, in the street.  Once more there flashed on her mind’s eye the little girl driving her hoop along the pavement.  Nobody could deny that she had gone out with her mamma.  Both of them had even seemed to be exceedingly well pleased.  This was sufficient proof that little girls were taken out when it rained.