r, he leaned against the tree
that sheltered the two children and watched them sleeping.

[Illustration: Chapter IX

_The child knelt on the girl's skirt, clasped his little hands, and
began to repeat his prayer with interest and fervently at first, for he
knew the beginning very well_.]

"I don't know why I never noticed that little Marie is the prettiest
girl in the province!" he thought. "She hasn't a great deal of color,
but her little face is as fresh as a wild rose! What a pretty mouth and
what a cunning little nose!--She isn't tall for her age, but she's built
like a little quail and light as a lark!--I don't know why they think
so much at home of a tall, stout, red-faced woman. My wife was rather
thin and pale, and she suited me above all others.--This girl is
delicate, but she's perfectly well and as pretty to look at as a white
kid! And what a sweet, honest way she has! how well you can read her
kind heart in her eyes, even when they are closed in sleep!--As for wit,
she has more than my dear Catherine had, I must admit, and one would
never be bored with her.--She's light-hearted, she's virtuous, she's a
hard worker, she's affectionate, and she's amusing.--I don't see what
more one could ask.

"But what business have I to think of all that?" resumed Germain, trying
to look in another direction. "My father-in-law wouldn't listen to it,
and the whole family would treat me as a madman! Besides, she herself
wouldn't have me, poor child!--She thinks I am too old: she told me so.
She isn't interested; it doesn't worry her much to think of being in
want and misery, of wearing poor clothes and suffering with hunger two
or three months in the year, provided that she satisfies her heart some
day and can give herself to a husband who suits her--and she's right,
too! I would do the same in her place--and at this moment, if I could
follow my own will, instead of embarking on a marriage that I don't
like the idea of, I would choose a girl to my taste."

The more Germain strove to argue with himself and calm himself, the less
he succeeded. He walked twenty steps away, to lose himself in the mist;
and then he suddenly found himself on his knees beside the two sleeping
children. Once he even tried to kiss Petit-Pierre, who had one arm
around Marie's neck, and he went so far astray that Marie, feeling a
breath as hot as fire upon her lips, awoke and looked at him in terror,
understanding nothing of what was taking place wi