e all,
the profound discomfort that the husbandman feels when he lays aside his
laborious habits; all the _ennui_ and annoyance he had undergone within
the last few hours--made Germain long to be once more with his child and
his little neighbor. Even if he had not been in love with the latter, he
would have sought her none the less for distraction, and to restore his
mind to its accustomed channels.

But he looked in vain in the neighboring fields, he saw neither little
Marie nor little Pierre; and yet it was the time when the shepherds are
in the fields. There was a large flock in a pasture; he asked a young
boy who was tending them if the sheep belonged to the farm of Ormeaux.

"Yes," said the child.

"Are you the shepherd? do boys tend woolly beasts for the farmers in
your neighborhood?"

"No. I'm tending 'em to-day because the shepherdess has gone away: she
was sick."

"But haven't you a new shepherdess who came this morning?"

"Oh! yes! she's gone, too, already."

"What! gone? didn't she have a child with her?"

"Yes, a little boy; he cried. They both went away after they'd been here
two hours."

"Where did they go?"

"Where they came from, I suppose. I didn't ask 'em."

"But what did they go away for?" said Germain, with increasing anxiety.

"Why, how do I know?"

"Didn't they agree about wages? but that must have been agreed on
beforehand."

"I can't tell you anything about it. I saw them go in and come out,
that's all."

Germain went on to the farm and questioned the farm-hands. No one could
explain what had happened; but all agreed that, after talking with the
farmer, the girl had gone away without saying a word, taking with her
the child, who was weeping.

"Did they ill-treat my son?" cried Germain, his eyes flashing fire.

"He was your son, was he? How did he come to be with that girl? Where
are you from, and what's your name?"

Germain, seeing that his questions were answered by other questions,
according to the custom of the country, stamped his foot impatiently,
and asked to speak with the master.

The master was not there: he was not in the habit of staying the whole
day when he came to the farm. He had mounted his horse, and ridden off
to some other of his farms.

"But surely you can find out the reason of that young girl's going
away?" said Germain, assailed by keen anxiety.

The farm-hand exchanged a strange smile with his wife, then replied that
he knew nothing about it, t