nod, then, with half-closed eyes, his lips
moving in prayer, his miter pushed down over his eyes, he followed his
surpliced subordinates down to the sea.

On the beach a crowd was waiting round a new boat decorated all over
with garlands; its mast, sail, and ropes were covered with long ribbons
which fluttered in the breeze, and its name, "Jeanne," was on the stern
in gilt letters. Old Lastique was the master of this boat that the baron
had had built, and he advanced to meet the procession.

At the sight of the cross all the men took off their caps, and a line of
nuns, enveloped in their long, straight, black mantles, knelt down. The
cure went to one end of the boat with the two choir-boys, while at the
other the three old choristers, with their dirty faces and hairy chins
shown up by their white surplices, sang at the top of their voices. Each
time they paused to take breath, the serpent-player continued his music
alone, and he blew out his cheeks till his little gray eyes could not be
seen and the very skin of his forehead and neck looked as if it was
separated from the flesh.

The calm, transparent sea, its ripples breaking on the shore with a
faint, grating noise, seemed to be watching the christening of the tiny
boat. Great, white sea-gulls flew by with outstretched wings, and then
returned over the heads of the kneeling crowd with a sweeping flight as
though they wanted to see what was going on.

The chanting stopped after an "Amen" which was repeated and sustained
for five minutes, and the priest gabbled some Latin words of which only
the sonorous terminations could be made out. Then he walked all round
the boat sprinkling it with holy water, and commenced to murmur the
oremus, stopping opposite the two sponsors, who were standing hand in
hand.

The young man's handsome face was quite calm, but the young girl, almost
suffocated by the palpitation of her heart, felt as though she should
faint, and she trembled so violently that her teeth chattered. The dream
that had haunted her for so long seemed all at once to have become a
reality. She had heard this ceremony compared to a wedding, the priest
was there uttering blessings, and surpliced men were chanting prayers;
surely she was being married!

Did the vicomte feel the nervous trembling of her fingers? Did his heart
sympathize with hers? Did he understand? did he guess? was he also under
the influence of an all-absorbing love-dream? Or was it only the
know