always the most stupid of the whole
community?'

'Then I think,' said I, after a brief silence, 'we had better see the
cure at once.'

'I thought so,' was the sententious reply.

Without troubling my head why he 'thought so,' I begged that the cure
might be informed that a gentleman at the inn begged to speak with him
for a few minutes.

'The Pere Jose, I suppose?' said the host significantly.

'With all my heart,' said I; 'Jose or Pierre, it's all alike to me.'

'He is there in waiting this half-hour,' said the host, pointing with
his thumb to a small salon off the kitchen.

'Indeed!' said I; 'how very polite the attention! I 'm really most
grateful.'

With which, without delaying another moment, I pushed open the door, and
entered.

The Pere Jose was a short, ruddy, astute-looking man of about fifty,
dressed in the canonical habit of a Flemish priest, which from time
and wear had lost much of its original freshness. He had barely time
to unfasten a huge napkin, which he had tied around his neck during his
devotion to a great mess of vegetable soup, when I made my bow to him.

'The Pere Jose, I believe?' said I, as I took my seat opposite to him.

'That unworthy priest!' said he, wiping his lips, and throwing up his
eyes with an expression not wholly devotional.

'Pere Jose,' resumed I, 'a young lady and myself, who have just arrived
here with weary horses, stand in need of your kind assistance.' Here he
pressed my hand gently, as if to assure me I was not mistaken in my man,
and I went on: 'We must reach Rochepied to-night; now, will you try and
assist us at this conjuncture? We are complete strangers.'

'Enough, enough!' said he. 'I'm sorry you are constrained for time. This
is a sweet little place for a few days' sojourn. But if,' said he, 'it
can't be, you shall have every aid in my power. I 'll send off to Poil
de Vache for his mule and car. You don't mind a little shaking?' said
he, smiling.

'It's no time to be fastidious, _pere_, and the lady is an excellent
traveller.'

'The mule is a good beast, and will bring you in three hours, or even
less.' So saying, he sat down and wrote a few lines on a scrap of paper,
with which he despatched a boy from the inn, telling him to make every
haste. 'And now monsieur, may I be permitted to pay my respects to
mademoiselle?'

'Most certainly, Pere Jose; she will be but too happy to add her thanks
to mine for what you have done for us.'

'Say rather, f