ing
yourself ill. There is no sense in working yourself up into such a
state, just because a pig has been slaughtered. You are as red as if you
had been dancing a whole night.'

But Desiree only clapped her hands and turned away and bustled about
again. La Teuse, for her part, complained that her legs were sinking
under her. Since six o'clock in the morning her big carcass had been
perpetually rolling between the kitchen and the yard, for she had black
puddings to make. It was she who had whisked the blood in two large
earthenware pans, and she had thought that she would never get finished,
since mademoiselle was for ever calling her away for mere nothings.

It must be admitted that, at the very moment when the butcher was
bleeding Matthew, Desiree had been thrilled with wild excitement, for
Lisa, the cow, was about to calve. And the girl's delight at this had
quite turned her head.

'One goes and another comes!' she cried, skipping and twirling round.
'Come here, La Teuse! come here!'

It was eleven o'clock. Every now and then the sound of chanting was
wafted from the church. A confused murmur of doleful voices, a muttering
of prayers could be heard amidst scraps of Latin pronounced in louder
and clearer tones.

'Come! oh, do come!' repeated Desiree for the twentieth time.

'I must go and toll the bell, now,' muttered the old servant. 'I shall
never get finished really. What is it that you want now, mademoiselle?'

But she did not wait for an answer. She threw herself upon a swarm of
fowls, who were greedily drinking the blood from the pans. And having
angrily kicked them away, and then covered up the pans, she called to
Desiree:

'It would be a great deal better if, instead of tormenting me, you only
came to look after these wretched birds. If you let them do as they like
there will be no black-pudding for you. Do you hear?'

Desiree only laughed. What of it, if the fowls did drink a few drops of
the blood? It would fatten them. Then she again tried to drag La Teuse
off to the cow, but the old servant refused to go.

'I must go and toll the bell. The procession will be coming out of
church directly. You know that quite well.'

At this moment the voices in the church rose yet more loudly, and a
sound of steps could be distinctly heard.

'No! no!' insisted Desiree, dragging La Teuse towards the stable. 'Just
come and look at her, and tell me what ought to be done.'

La Teuse shrugged her shoulders. All t