f to him.

"He has too much delicacy," she cried. "I have told him so. I knew very
well that this morning, even, he would not venture to demand a positive
answer. And I have come to interfere in the matter. We shall see if I
cannot oblige her to come to a decision."

Then, more calmly:

"My son is on his feet now; he does not need her."

Martine, who was again stooping over the bed, planting her leeks,
straightened herself quickly.

"Ah, that for sure!"

And a flush passed over her face, worn by thirty years of service. For a
wound bled within her; for some time past the master scarcely tolerated
her about him. During the whole time of his illness he had kept her at
a distance, accepting her services less and less every day, and finally
closing altogether to her the door of his room and of the workroom.
She had a vague consciousness of what was taking place, an instinctive
jealousy tortured her, in her adoration of the master, whose chattel she
had been satisfied to be for so many years.

"For sure, we have no need of mademoiselle. I am quite able to take care
of monsieur."

Then she, who was so discreet, spoke of her labors in the garden, saying
that she made time to cultivate the vegetables, so as to save a few
days' wages of a man. True, the house was large, but when one was not
afraid of work, one could manage to do all there was to be done. And
then, when mademoiselle should have left them, that would be always one
less to wait upon. And her eyes brightened unconsciously at the thought
of the great solitude, of the happy peace in which they should live
after this departure.

"It would give me pain," she said, lowering her voice, "for it would
certainly give monsieur a great deal. I would never have believed that
I could be brought to wish for such a separation. Only, madame, I agree
with you that it is necessary, for I am greatly afraid that mademoiselle
will end by going to ruin here, and that there will be another soul
lost to the good God. Ah, it is very sad; my heart is so heavy about it
sometimes that it is ready to burst."

"They are both upstairs, are they not?" said Felicite. "I will go up and
see them, and I will undertake to oblige them to end the matter."

An hour later, when she came down again, she found Martine still on
her knees on the soft earth, finishing her planting. Upstairs, from her
first words, when she said that she had been talking with Dr. Ramond,
and that he had shown himsel