No one would have recognised Madame Lacombe. Her once pallid and wrinkled face was plump and rosy, and characterised by an expression of perfect content. She wore a lace bonnet, and a handsome shawl partially concealed her silk gown. Louis Richard's countenance wore a look of quiet happiness. It was evident that he realised the great responsibility that devolved upon him. Mariette, who was prettier than ever, had that air of gentle dignity that suits young mothers so well. In spite of her marriage, she still clung to the simple garb of her girlhood. Faithful to the coquettish little cap of the grisette, she had never worn a bonnet, and she was quite irresistible in her freshness, grace, and beauty, under her snowy cap with its bows of sky-blue ribbon. After Louis, his wife and child, and Mother Lacombe, came, dressed in white and crowned with orange blossoms, the six young girls who were to receive dowries that year, attended by the parents or the witnesses of their betrothed husbands, then the six bridegrooms escorting the relatives or witnesses of their affianced wives, all evidently belonging to the labouring class. Following them came the twenty-four couples that had been married during the four preceding years, then the children of Father Richard's School, and, finally, such inmates of the home as were able to attend the ceremony. It took nearly a quarter of an hour for the procession to pass into the church, and the aged stranger watched it sadly and thoughtfully while such comments as the following were exchanged around him: "It is all due to Father Richard that these good, industrious girls can become happy wives." "Yes, and how happy the married couples look!" "And they owe it all to Father Richard, too." "And to M. Louis, who carries out his father's wishes so faithfully." "Yes; but if it were not for the large fortune Father Richard left him, M. Louis would not have been able to do any of these things." "And the schoolchildren. Did you notice how plump and rosy and contented they looked,--the boys in their comfortable woollen jackets, and the girls in their warm merino dresses." "Think of it, there were nearly one hundred and fifty persons in the procession, and every one of them has shared Father Richard's benefits!" "That is true; and when one remembers that this work has been going on for four years, it makes between six and seven hundred people who have been taught or supported or married through Father Richard's bounty." "To say nothing of the fact that, if M. Louis lives thirty years longer, there will be five or six thousand persons who will owe their happy, respectable lives to Father Richard--for poverty causes the ruin of so many poor creatures!" "Five or six thousand persons, you say; why, there will be many more than that." "How do you make that out?"