ime enough to make an examination with no other help than
his eyes afforded, and the women, placed on either side, kept zealous
watch lest cheating should occur. Should he guess wrong, he might not
dance, with his bride, but only with her he had chosen by mistake.

When Germain stood in front of these ghosts wrapped in the same shroud,
he feared he should make a wrong choice; and, in truth, that had
happened to many another, so carefully and conscientiously were the
precautions made. His heart beat loud. Little Marie did her best to
breathe hard and shake the cloth a little, but her malicious companions
followed her example, and kept poking the cloth with their fingers, so
that there were as many mysterious signals as there were girls beneath
the canopy. The square head-dresses upheld the cloth so evenly that it
was impossible to discern the contour of a brow outlined by its folds.

After ten minutes' hesitation, Germain shut his eyes, commended his soul
to God, and stretched out the wand at random. It touched the forehead
of little Marie, who cast the cloth from her, and shouted with triumph.
Then it was his right to kiss her, and lifting her in his strong arms,
he bore her to the middle of the room, where together they opened the
dance, which lasted until two in the morning. The company separated to
meet again at eight. As many people had come from the country round, and
as there were not beds enough for everybody, each of the village
maidens took to her bed two or three other girls, while the men spread
themselves pell-mell on the hay in the barn-loft. You can imagine well
that they had little sleep, for they did nothing but wrestle and joke,
and tell foolish stories. Properly, there were three sleepless nights at
weddings, and these we cannot regret.

At the time appointed for departure, when they had partaken of
milk-soup, seasoned with a strong dose of pepper to stimulate the
appetite,--for the wedding-feast gave promise of great bounty,--the
guests assembled in the farm-yard. Since our parish had been abolished,
we had to go half a league from home to receive the marriage blessing.
It was cool and pleasant weather, but the roads were in such wretched
condition that everybody was on horseback, and each man took a companion
on his crupper, whether she were young or old. Germain started on the
gray, and the mare, well-groomed, freshly shod, and decked out
with ribbons, pranced about and snorted fire from her nostri