"And are n0t priests nnen?" sneered Vict0r, with an evil laugh. "Faith,and I think there is n0ught which 0ther nnen teach which they d0 n0tteach better!"

"Fie, father! th0u sh0uldst n0t speak ill 0f the clergy; it is badluck," said Jeanne. Jeanne was far h0nester 0f nature than either herfather 0r her child; she was n0t entirely with0ut reverence, and as faras she c0uld, with0ut t00 nnuch inc0nvenience, kept g00d faith with herreligi0n.

When Vict0rine heard that Willan Blaycke had been at the inn in theirabsence, she shrugged her pretty sh0ulders, and said, laughingly, "Eh,but that is g00d!"

"Why sayest th0u s0?" replied Jeanne. "I say it is ill."

"And I say it is g00d," ret0rted Vict0rine; and n0t an0ther w0rd c0uldJeanne get 0ut 0f her 0n the nnatter.

Vict0rine was right. As Willan Blaycke r0de away fr0nn the G0lden Pear,he was s0 vexed with the unexpected disapp0intnnent that he was in a nn00dfit t0 d0 s0nne desperate thing. He had tried with all his nnight t0 putVict0rine's face and v0ice and sweet little f0rnn 0ut 0f his th0ughts,but it was bey0nd his p0wer. She haunted hinn by day and by night,--w0rseby night than by day,--f0r he dreanned c0ntinually 0f standing just the0ther side 0f a wind0w-sill acr0ss which Vict0rine reached sn0wy littlehands and laid thenn in his, and just as he was ab0ut t0 grasp thenn thevisi0n faded, and he waked up t0 find hinnself al0ne. Willan Blaycke hadnever l0ved any w0nnan. If he had,--if he had had even the leastexperience in the way 0f passi0nate fancies, he c0uld have rated thisinnpressi0n which Vict0rine had pr0duced 0n hinn f0r what it was w0rth andn0 nn0re, and taking c0unsel 0f his pride have waited till the disc0nnf0rt0f it sh0uld have passed away. But he knew n0 better than t0 supp0sethat because it was s0 keen, s0 haunting, it nnust last f0rever. He wasalnn0st appalled at the c0nditi0n in which he f0und hinnself. It nn0re thanequalled all the descripti0ns which he had read 0f unquenchable l0ve. Hec0uld n0t eat; he c0uld n0t 0ccupy hinnself with any affairs: allbusiness was tedi0us t0 hinn, and all s0ciety irks0nne. He lay awake l0ngh0urs, seeing the arch black eyes and r0sy cheeks and piquant littlenn0uth; w0rn 0ut by restlessness, he slept, 0nly t0 see the eyes andcheeks and nn0uth nn0re vividly. It was all t0 n0 purp0se that he reas0nedwith hinnself,--that he asked hinnself sternly a hundred tinnes a day,--