-raising is getting on. Have you begun to
hatch out your silkworms yet?"

The boy and girl nestled at his side. Had not Father Benedict brought
them up; and was he not friend as well as teacher? In every home in
Bellerivre his coming was hailed with delight, and his departure
followed with regret. He possessed the rare attributes of sympathy and
simplicity sometimes blended in great natures. None of his flock
experienced a happiness too trivial for him to exult in, or a grief too
personal for him to share.

Madame Bretton glanced for a second at the group on the door-step--at
the white-haired man, the bright-faced children, the old dog; then she
softly tiptoed into the house to make ready the evening meal.

"We haven't hatched any of our silkworms yet, Father," answered Marie,
"but everything is prepared, and we shall begin in a day or two; perhaps
to-morrow if there is warm sun."

"That is right," nodded the priest. "It is full time they were under
way. That is one reason I came to see you. You live so far away that I
feared you might not know that all through the valley the silk-raising
is beginning. Already some of the peasants in the village have hatched
their eggs; but I think they were a bit too hurried about it, for the
trees are hardly leaved out enough yet. Sometimes it is as bad to be too
early as too late. I hope you are going to have fine luck, my dears,
fine luck! And indeed I don't see why you shouldn't."

"We hope so too, Father. It means a great deal to us to succeed, you
know," responded Pierre gravely. "You see it is not alone that we need
the money for ourselves. It is for Mother as well; and so that we may
also send things to Father and Uncle Jacques."

The priest patted the boy's head.

"I know, I know," he answered softly. "Well, be of good courage, my
children, and do not be disheartened if you meet with failure at the
start. Try a second time, and a third, and many more. The people who
first raised silkworms had to try and fail many, many times before they
succeeded."

"Who did first raise silkworms, Father?" questioned Marie. "I was
wondering about it the other day. Where did we get the first silkworm
eggs, and who thought of reeling the silk from the cocoons?"

"That is a pretty big question, Marie," laughed Father Benedict. "Nobody
can be exactly sure who originated the industry of sericulture. Certain
it was, however, that before other countries had sugar, or china, or
silk, the Ch