Then she stopped short, holding her breath and saying between her teeth: ‘Ah! the wretches! they will get us caught!’ She still had her apron full of herbage with her, and her pets were taking it by assault. A troop of fowls had surrounded her, clucking and calling each other, and pecking at the hanging green stuff. The goat pushed its head slyly under her arm, and began to eat the longer leaves. Even the cow, which was tethered to the wall, strained at its cord and poked out its nose, kissing her with its warm breath. ‘Oh! you thieves!’ cried Desirée. ‘But this is for the rabbits, not for you! Leave me alone, won’t you! You, there, will get your ears boxed, if you don’t go away! And you too will have your tail pulled if I catch you at it again. The wretches! they will be eating my hands soon!’ She drove the goat off, dispersed the fowls with her feet, and tapped the cow’s nose with her fists. But the creatures just shook themselves, and then came back more greedily than ever, surrounding her, jumping on her, and tearing open her apron. At this she whispered to Albine, as though she were afraid the animals might hear her. ‘Aren’t they amusing, the dears? Watch them eat.’ Albine looked on with a grave expression. ‘Now, now, be good,’ resumed Desirée; ‘you shall all have some, but you must wait your turns. Now, big Lisa, you first. Eh! how fond you are of plantain, aren’t you?’ Big Lisa was the cow. She slowly munched a handful of the juicy leaves which had grown beside Abbé Caffin’s tomb. A thread of saliva hung down from her mouth, and her great brown eyes shone with quiet enjoyment. ‘There! now it’s your turn,’ continued Desirée, turning towards the goat. ‘You are fond of poppies, I know; and you like the flowers best, don’t you? The buds that shine in your teeth like red-hot butterflies! See, here are some splendid ones; they came from the left-hand corner, where there was a burial last year.’