ed, and then looked at her aside, while she looked straight
ahead of her. She had fat, red cheeks, a full, protuberant bust under
her muslin dress, thick, red lips, and her neck, which was almost bare,
was covered with small beads of perspiration. He felt a fresh access of
desire, and putting his lips to her ear, he murmured: "Yes, of course I
do."

Then she threw her arms round his neck, and kissed for such a long time
that they both of them lost their breath. From that moment the eternal
story of love began between them. They plagued one another in corners;
they met in the moonlight under a haystack, and gave each other bruises
on the legs with their heavy nailed boots. By degrees, however, Jacques
seemed to grow tired of her; he avoided her; scarcely spoke to her, and
did not try any longer to meet her alone, which made her sad and
anxious; and soon she found that she was pregnant.

At first, she was in a state of consternation, but then she got angry,
and her rage increased every day, because she could not meet him, as he
avoided her most carefully. At last, one night when everyone in the
farmhouse was asleep, she went out noiselessly in her petticoat, with
bare feet, crossed the yard and opened the door of the stable, where
Jacques was lying in a large box of straw, over his horses. He pretended
to snore when he heard her coming, but she knelt down by his side and
shook him until he sat up.

"What do you want?" he then asked her. And she, with clenched teeth, and
trembling with anger, replied: "I want ... I want you to marry me, as
you promised." But he only laughed, and replied: "Oh! If a man were to
marry all the girls with whom he has made a slip, he would have more
than enough to do."

Then she seized him by the throat, threw him onto his back, so that he
could not disengage himself from her, and half strangling him, she
shouted into his face: "I am in the family way! Do you hear? I am in the
family way?"

He gasped for breath, as he was nearly choked, and so they remained,
both of them, motionless and without speaking, in the dark silence,
which was only broken by the noise that a horse made as he pulled the
hay out of the manger, and then slowly chewed it.

When Jacques found that she was the stronger, he stammered out: "Very
well, I will marry you, as that is the case." But she did not believe
his promises. "It must be at once," she said. "You must have the banns
put up." "At once," he replied. "Swear