row
morning he starts for the farm at Fourche."

"Good enough!" cried Mother Maurice; "poor child! God grant he may find
a woman as good and true as he."

"So he is going to Fourche?" remarked Mother Guillette; "how lucky that
is! It is exactly what I want. And since you were just asking me
if there were anything I wished for, I am going to tell you, Father
Maurice, how you can do me a service."

"Tell me what it is; we like to help you."

"I wish Germain would be so kind as to take my daughter along with him."

"Where? To Fourche?"

"No, not to Fourche, but to Ormeaux. She is to stay there the rest of
the year."

"What!" exclaimed Mother Maurice, "are you going to separate from your
daughter?"

"She must go out to work and earn her living. I am sorry enough, and she
is too, poor soul. We could not make up our minds to part Saint John's
Day, but now that Saint Martin's is upon us, she finds a good place as
shepherdess at the farms at Ormeaux. On his way home from the fair the
other day, the farmer passed by here. He caught sight of my little Marie
tending her three sheep on the common.

"'You have hardly enough to do, my little girl,' said he; 'three sheep
are not enough for a shepherdess: would you like to take care of a
hundred? I will take you along. Our shepherdess has fallen sick. She is
going back to her family, and if you will be at our farm before a week
is over, you shall have fifty francs for the rest of the year up to
Saint John's Day.'

"The child refused, but she could not help thinking it over and telling
me about it, when she came home in the evening, and found me downhearted
and worried about the winter, which was sure to be hard and long; for
this year the cranes and wild ducks were seen crossing the sky a whole
month before they generally do. We both of us cried, but after a time
we took heart. We knew that we could not stay together, since it is hard
enough for one person to get a living from our little patch of ground.
Then since Marie is old enough,--for she is going on to sixteen,--she
must do like the rest, earn her own living and help her poor mother."

"Mother Guillette," said the old laborer, "if it were only fifty francs
you needed to help you out of your trouble, and save you from sending
away your daughter, I should certainly find them for you, although
fifty francs is no trifle for people like us. But in everything we must
consult common sense as well as friendship. To be save