Then, shrugging her shoulders and raising her head, she said slowly, while still avoiding Claudet's eyes: "Perhaps you are right--both of you.

Well, let it be so! I authorize you to go to Monsieur le Cure and arrange the day with him." "Oh, thanks, Reine!" exclaimed Claudet, rapturously; "you make me very happy!" He pressed her hands in his, but though absorbed in his own joyful feelings, he could not help remarking that the young girl was trembling in his grasp.

He even fancied that there was a suspicious, tearful glitter in her brilliant eyes.
He left her, however, and repaired at once to the cure's house, which stood near the chateau, a little behind the church.
The servant showed him into a small garden separated by a low wall from the cemetery.

He found the Abbe Pernot seated on a stone bench, sheltered by a trellised vine.

He was occupied in cutting up pieces of hazel-nuts to make traps for small birds.
"Good-evening, Claudet!" said the cure, without moving from his work; "you find me busy preparing my nets; if you will permit me, I will continue, for I should like to have my two hundred traps finished by this evening.