rothers of the
Christian Doctrine, for which the Abbe Brossette had hitherto begged in
vain. Thus, not only were the houses of the ex-monk and the young priest
connected and yet separated by the church, but they were in a position
to watch each other. Indeed, the whole village spied upon the abbe. The
main street, which began at the Thune, crept tortuously up the hill to
the church. Vineyards, the cottages of the peasantry, and a small grove
crowned the heights.

Rigou's house, the handsomest in the village, was built of the large
rubble-stone peculiar to Burgundy, imbedded in yellow mortar smoothed by
the trowel, which produced an uneven surface, still further broken here
and there by projecting points of the stone, which was mostly black. A
band of cement, in which no stones were allowed to show, surrounded each
window with a sort of frame, where time had made some slight, capricious
cracks, such as appear on plastered ceilings. The outer blinds, of a
clumsy pattern, were noticeable for their color, which was dragon-green.
A few mosses grew among the slates of the roof. The type is that of
Burgundian homesteads; the traveller will see thousands like it when
visiting this part of France.

A double door opened upon a passage, half-way down which was the well of
the staircase. By the entrance was the door of a large room with three
windows looking out upon the square. The kitchen, built behind and
beneath the staircase, was lighted from the courtyard, which was neatly
paved with cobble-stones and entered by a porte-cochere. Such was the
ground-floor. The first floor contained three bedrooms, above them a
small attic chamber.

A wood-shed, a coach-house, and a stable adjoined the kitchen, and
formed two sides of a square around the courtyard. Above these rather
flimsy buildings were lofts containing hay and grain, a fruit-room, and
one servant's-chamber.

A poultry-yard, the stable, and a pigsty faced the house across the
courtyard.

The garden, about an acre in size and enclosed by walls, was a true
priest's garden; that is, it was full of wall-fruit and fruit-trees,
grape-arbors, gravel-paths, closely trimmed box-trees, and square
vegetable patches, made rich with the manure from the stable.

Within, the large room, panelled in wainscot, was hung with old
tapestry. The walnut furniture, brown with age and covered with stuffs
embroidered in needle-work, was in keeping with the wainscot and with
the ceiling, which