"The poor girl comes to church with Madame Michaud and Madame Sibilet." "And she is none the better for it," said Sibilet, "for the others ill-treat her on account of her religion." "Well, that poor old man of seventy gleans, honestly, about a bushel and a half a day," continued the priest; "but his natural uprightness prevents him from selling his gleanings as others do,--he keeps them for his own consumption.

Monsieur Langlume, your miller, grinds his flour gratis at my request, and my servant bakes his bread with mine." "I had quite forgotten my little protegee," said the countess, troubled at Sibilet's remark.

"Your arrival," she added to Blondet, "has quite turned my head.

But after breakfast I will take you to the gate of the Avonne and show you the living image of those women whom the painters of the fifteenth century delighted to perpetuate." The sound of Pere Fourchon's broken sabots was now heard; after depositing them in the antechamber, he was brought to the door of the dining-room by Francois.

At a sign from the countess, Francois allowed him to pass in, followed by Mouche with his mouth full and carrying the otter, hanging by a string tied to its yellow paws, webbed like those of a palmiped.