reparations as if they were going on an extended
trip.

The baggage was sent the day before on Liebard's cart. On the following
morning, he brought around two horses, one of which had a woman's saddle
with a velveteen back to it, while on the crupper of the other was a
rolled shawl that was to be used for a seat. Madame Aubain mounted the
second horse, behind Liebard. Felicite took charge of the little
girl, and Paul rode M. Lechaptois' donkey, which had been lent for the
occasion on the condition that they should be careful of it.

The road was so bad that it took two hours to cover the eight miles.
The two horses sank knee-deep into the mud and stumbled into ditches;
sometimes they had to jump over them. In certain places, Liebard's mare
stopped abruptly. He waited patiently till she started again, and talked
of the people whose estates bordered the road, adding his own moral
reflections to the outline of their histories. Thus, when they
were passing through Toucques, and came to some windows draped with
nasturtiums, he shrugged his shoulders and said: "There's a woman,
Madame Lehoussais, who, instead of taking a young man--" Felicite could
not catch what followed; the horses began to trot, the donkey to gallop,
and they turned into a lane; then a gate swung open, two farm-hands
appeared and they all dismounted at the very threshold of the
farm-house.

Mother Liebard, when she caught sight of her mistress, was lavish with
joyful demonstrations. She got up a lunch which comprised a leg of
mutton, tripe, sausages, a chicken fricassee, sweet cider, a fruit tart
and some preserved prunes; then to all this the good woman added polite
remarks about Madame, who appeared to be in better health, Mademoiselle,
who had grown to be "superb," and Paul, who had become singularly
sturdy; she spoke also of their deceased grandparents, whom the Liebards
had known, for they had been in the service of the family for several
generations.

Like its owners, the farm had an ancient appearance. The beams of the
ceiling were mouldy, the walls black with smoke and the windows grey
with dust. The oak sideboard was filled with all sorts of utensils,
plates, pitchers, tin bowls, wolf-traps. The children laughed when they
saw a huge syringe. There was not a tree in the yard that did not have
mushrooms growing around its foot, or a bunch of mistletoe hanging in
its branches. Several of the trees had been blown down, but they had
started to gro