up
to him, as he was going out.

"Is Monsieur le Cure at home?" she asked. "Of course he is; this is his
dinnertime." She trembled as she rang the bell of the parsonage. The
priest was just sitting down to dinner, and he made her sit down also.
"Yes, yes, I know all about it; your husband has mentioned the matter to
me that brings you here." The poor woman nearly fainted, and the priest
continued: "What do you want, my child?" And he hastily swallowed
several spoonfuls of soup, some of which dropped on to his greasy
cassock. But Rose did not venture to say anything more, and she got up
to go, but the priest said: "Courage."

And she went out and returned to the farm without knowing what she was
doing. The farmer was waiting for her, as the laborers had gone away
during her absence, and she fell heavily at his feet, and, shedding a
flood of tears, she said to him: "What have you got against me?"

He began to shout and to swear: "What have I got against you? That I
have no children, by---. When a man takes a wife it is not that they
may live alone together to the end of their days. That is what I have
against you. When a cow has no calves she is not worth anything, and
when a woman has no children she is also not worth anything."

She began to cry, and said: "It is not my fault! It is not my fault!"
He grew rather more gentle when he heard that, and added: "I do not say
that it is, but it is very provoking, all the same."

PART V

From that day forward she had only one thought: to have a child another
child; she confided her wish to everybody, and, in consequence of this,
a neighbor told her of an infallible method. This was, to make her
husband drink a glass of water with a pinch of ashes in it every
evening. The farmer consented to try it, but without success; so they
said to each other: "Perhaps there are some secret ways?" And they tried
to find out. They were told of a shepherd who lived ten leagues off, and
so Vallin one day drove off to consult him. The shepherd gave him a loaf
on which he had made some marks; it was kneaded up with herbs, and each
of them was to eat a piece of it, but they ate the whole loaf without
obtaining any results from it.

Next, a schoolmaster unveiled mysteries and processes of love which were
unknown in the country, but infallible, so he declared; but none of
them had the desired effect. Then the priest advised them to make
a pilgrimage to the shrine at Fecamp. Rose went wi