"Well, well, well!" She spoke in a short bustling voice--a voice that would have been cheering if it had been less restless. "Hast thou then seen Leon Roussel, Marie? Hast thou learned the reason of his absence?" Marie's tender, sweet look vanished: she tossed her pretty head and pouted: "Leon was not at the market, but I saw him as I came home; only he was not close to me, so we did not speak." "Didst thou see that vaurien Nicolas?" "Yes, I saw him." Marie blushed, and her mother burst out into angry words: "Foolish, trifling child that thou art! thou lovest that black-eyed gypsy boy; and for him, the idle vagabond, thou hast flung away the best _parti_ in Aubette. Ciel! what do I say? In Bolbec itself there is no one with better prospects than Leon Roussel." Madame Famette always failed in managing her daughter. Marie smiled and kept down her indignation. "I hardly know that," she said: "old Marais will make Nicolas his heir, and there is no saying how rich a miser is." She crossed the road, caught the donkey by the bridle, and held him ready for her mother to mount. Madame Famette went on grumbling, but Mouton the donkey soon drew her anger on himself; and by the time the three reached the triangle of gray, half-timbered cottages which surround the old church of St. Gertrude, the easy, sieve-like nature of the woman had recovered from its vexation. "Hola, Jeanne, Jeanne! run there and take Mouton from Mam'selle Marie, who is tired with the market. Come, thou, mon cher, and tell me the news." Madame Famette rolled off her donkey, and then rolled on into the house. III. Marie Famette was ill--much too ill to go to market. "I will go. Do not vex thyself, my child, and I will see our good doctor and bring thee back a tisane." The bustling woman, with her blue eyes and light eyelashes, bent down and kissed Marie's forehead, and then departed. "A tisane!" The bright blue eyes were so dull and languid now, half closed by the heavy white eyelids. "I wonder if even Doctor Gueroult is wise enough to cure the heart when it aches like mine? Ah, Leon, I did not think you could be so hard, so cruel; and how could he know, how could he see into my heart, while I stood laughing so foolishly with Nicolas and Monsieur Poiseau? If Elise Lesage had not teased me about Leon, it might have been different, but I could not let her think I cared for him after what she said." She leaned back her head and cried bitterly.