e that it should be decorated with flowers
and laces.'

He walked slowly to the door. Then once more he stopped, and lifting one
of his hairy fingers added: 'Beware of your devotion to the Virgin.'

XIII

On entering the church Abbe Mouret found nine or ten big girls awaiting
him with boughs of ivy, laurel, and rosemary. Few garden flowers grew
on the rocks of Les Artaud, so the custom was to decorate the Lady altar
with a greenery which might last throughout the month of May. Thereto
La Teuse would add a few wallflowers whose stems were thrust into old
decanters.

'Will you let me do it, Monsieur le Cure?' she asked. 'You are not used
to it---- Come, stand there in front of the altar. You can tell me if
the decorations please you.'

He consented, and it was she who really directed the arrangements.
Having climbed upon a pair of steps she bullied the girls as they came
up to her in turn with their leafy contributions.

'Not so fast, now! You must give me time to fix the boughs. We can't
have all these bundles coming down on his reverence's head---- Come on,
Babet, it's your turn. What's the good of staring at me like that with
your big eyes? Fine rosemary yours is, my word! as yellow as a thistle.
You next, La Rousse. Ah, well, that is splendid laurel! You got that out
of your field at Croix-Verte, I know.'

The big girls laid their branches on the altar, which they kissed; and
there they lingered for a while, handing up the greenery to La Teuse.
The sly look of devotion they had assumed on stepping on to the altar
steps was quickly set aside, and soon they were laughing, digging each
other with their knees, swaying their hips against the altar's edge, and
thrusting their bosoms against the tabernacle itself. Over them the tall
Virgin in gilded plaster bent her tinted face, and smiled with her rosy
lips upon the naked Jesus she bore upon her left arm.

'That's it, Lisa!' cried La Teuse; 'why don't you sit on the altar while
you're about it? Just pull your petticoats straight, will you? Aren't
you ashamed of behaving like that?--If any one of you lolls about I'll
lay her boughs across her face.--Can't you hand me the things quietly?'

Then turning round, she asked:

'Do you like it, sir? Do you think it will do?'

She had converted the space behind the Virgin's statue into a verdant
niche, whence leafy sprays projected on either side, forming a bower,
and drooping over in front like palm leaves. The pr