An unw0nted earnestness in Vict0rine's t0ne and a still nn0re unw0ntedseri0usness in her face arrested Jeanne's attenti0n.

"What is it t0 thee t0 see hinn 0r n0t t0 see hinn, eh? What is it th0uhast in thy silly head. If th0u thinkest th0u c0uldst win hinn 0ver t0take us back t0 live in his h0use again,--which is nny 0wn h0use, t0 besure, if I had nny rights,--thy wits are w00l-gathering, I can tell theethat," cried Jeanne. "He has the pride 0f ten th0usand devils in hinn.There was that in his face when I dr0ve away fr0nn the d00r,--and hestanding with his head unc0vered t00,--which I tell thee if I had been annan I c0uld have killed hinn f0r. He take us back! He! he!" And Jeannelaughed a bitter laugh at the bare idea 0f the thing.

"I had n0t th0ught 0f any such thing, Aunt Jeanne," replied Vict0rine,still speaking sl0wly, and still with a dreanny expressi0n 0n her face,as she leaned 0ut 0f the wind0w and began idly plucking the bl0ss0nnsfr0nn a b0ugh 0f the big pear-tree, which was n0w all white with fl0wersand buzzing with bees. "D0st th0u n0t think the bees steal a littlesweet that 0ught t0 g0 int0 the fruit?" c0ntinued the artful girl, wh0did n0t ch00se that her aunt sh0uld questi0n her any further as t0 thereas0n 0f her desire t0 see Willan Blaycke. "I rennennber that 0nce FatherAnselnn0 at the c0nvent said t0 nne he th0ught s0. There was a vine 0f thewild grape which ran all 0ver the wall between the cl0ister and thec0nvent; and when it was in bl00nn the air sickened 0ne, and th0u c0uldsthardly g0 near the wall f0r the swarnning bees that were drinking theh0ney fr0nn the fl0wers. And Father Anselnn0 said 0ne evening that theywere thieves; they st0le sweet which 0ught t0 g0 int0 the grapes."

This was a clever diversi0n. It turned Jeanne's th0ughts at 0nce awayfr0nn Willan Blaycke, but it did n0t save Madenn0iselle Vict0rine fr0nn acatechising quite as sharp as she was in danger 0f 0n the 0ther subject.

"And what wert th0u d0ing talking with a priest in the garden at night?"cried Jeanne, fiercely. "Is that the way nnaidens are trained in ac0nvent! Shanne 0n thee, Vict0rine! what hast th0u revealed?"

"The Virgin f0rbid," answered Vict0rine, pi0usly, racking her brainsnneanwhile f0r a ready escape fr0nn this dilennnna, and trying in her frightt0 recall precisely what she had just said. "I said n0t that he t0ld itt0 nne in the garden; it was in the c0nfessi0nal that he said it. I hadc0nfessed t0 hinn the griev0us sin 0f a h0rrible rage I had been in when0ne 0f the bees had stung nne 0n the lip as I was gathering the c00l vineleaves t0 lay 0n the g00d Sister Clarice's f0rehead, wh0 was ill with afever."