ttle ewes did not know
how to play alone. They went along pressing up close to each other,
and even when they were not cropping what grass there was, their heads
were bent. Some of them made me think of little girls I had known. I
used to pass them and stroke them, and make them raise their heads, but
their eyes looked down again at once, and the pupils were like glass
without a gleam in it.

One day I was surprised by such a thick fog that I could not see my
way. All of a sudden I found myself near a big wood which I didn't
know. The tops of the trees were lost in the fog, and the ferns looked
as though they were all wrapped in wool. White shadows came down from
the trees and glided with long transparent trains over the dead leaves.
I pushed the sheep towards the meadow, which was quite near, but they
clustered together and refused to go on. I went in front of them to
see what was preventing them from going any further, and I recognized
the little river which flowed at the bottom of the hill.

I could scarcely see the water. It seemed to be sleeping under a thick
white woollen blanket. I stood looking at it for one long minute, then
I got my sheep together and took them back along the road. While I was
trying to find out where the farm was, the sheep ran round the wood and
got into a lane with a hedge on each side of it. The fog was getting
thicker than ever, and I thought I was walking between two high walls.
I followed the sheep without knowing where they were taking me.
Suddenly they left the lane and turned to the right; but I stopped
them. I saw a church just in front of us. The doors were wide open,
and on either side I could see two red lamps which lit up a grey
vaulted roof. There were two straight lines of huge pillars, and at
the other end one could just see the windows with their small panes on
which a light was shining. It was all I could do to keep the sheep
from going into the church, and as I was pushing them away I noticed
that they were covered with little white beads. They shook themselves
every moment and the beads made a tinkling sound. I got very anxious,
for I knew that Master Silvain must be waiting for us, and wondering
where we were. I felt sure that if I were to go back the way I had
come I must soon find the farm, so making as little noise as I could I
pushed the sheep back into the lane which led to the church. As I was
going into the lane a man's voice sounded right over