Where is she now, that lady bright and fair Who’s named La Belle Marquise in Morbihan? DE VARDES She is in Nantes. YVETTE Ah!—Is she not fair? DE VARDES Most fair. YVETTE And nobly born? DE VARDES And nobly born. YVETTE Alas! _Enter_ SISTER BENEDICTA. SISTER BENEDICTA Monsieur le Baron de Morbec,— A courier, in haste, foam-flecked and spent, Demands to speak with you. DE VARDES What tidings now? Ill news like ravens to a cumbered field! I come, my Sister! (_To_ Yvette.) I’ll return. [_Exeunt_ DE VARDES _and_ SISTER BENEDICTA. YVETTE Alas! She is in Nantes! He sees her every day. What is this pain that’s tearing at my heart? [_Laughing voices of young girls. Enter from the convent_ SISTER FIDELIS _and_ SISTER SIMPLICIA _with a cluster of young girls, pupils of the nuns or refugees from Royalist families. They seat themselves upon the wide steps of the fountain._ YVETTE _leans against the basin and plays in the water with her hand_. A YOUNG GIRL (_to_ YVETTE) We’re telling stories! ANOTHER Finish thine, Louise! LOUISE ‘Tis told. The beau prince wed the belle princesse, And they lived happily ever after! A YOUNG GIRL Whose turn now? ANOTHER Tell us a story, Yvette! YVETTE (_turning from the fountain_) _Beneath the halfway tree, ‘Tween Josselin and Pontivy, Suddenly, out of the dark, I heard a grey wolf bark! Hoée! Hoée! Hoée!_ _The snow was on the ground, The shadows all around, Laid a finger on my lip, As I stood, hand on hip, Listening the grey wolf bark. Hoée! Hoée! Hoée! Beneath the halfway tree, ‘Tween Josselin and Pontivy!_ _A little child came by. “Yvette, the wolf is nigh! Yvette, take thou me up, I’ve neither bite nor sup!” Hoée! Hoée! Hoée!_