It is Bernard, one of the farmers of Madame la Marquise, an honest man.

He was common councilman, and he voted for the maintenance of the sisters when they were going to be expelled from the village school.' That will touch St.Peter, who will answer: 'Well, well, you may pass, Bernard, but it is only to please Monsieur le Cure.' For you will be Monsieur le Cure up there, and Cure of Longueval, too, for paradise itself would be dull for you if you must give up being Cure of Longueval." Cure of Longueval! Yes, all his life he had been nothing but Cure of Longueval, had never dreamed of anything else, had never wished to be anything else.

Three or four times excellent livings, with one or two curates, had been offered to him, but he had always refused them.

He loved his little church, his little village, his little vicarage.

There he had it all to himself, saw to everything himself; calm, tranquil, he went and came, summer and winter, in sunshine or storm, in wind or rain.
His frame became hardened by fatigue and exposure, but his soul remained gentle, tender, and pure.
He lived in his vicarage, which was only a larger laborer's cottage, separated from the church by the churchyard.