and hide yourself.'

"When the schoolmaster heard the whispering, he continued: 'Why, you are
not by yourself?' 'Yes, I am, Monsieur Grabu!' 'But you are not, for you
are talking.' 'I swear I am, Monsieur Grabu.' 'I will soon find out,'
the old man replied, and double-locking the door, he went down to get a
light.

"Then the young man, who was a coward such as one frequently meets, lost
his head, and he repeated, having grown furious all of a sudden: 'Hide
yourself, so that he may not find you. You will deprive me of my bread
for my whole life; you will ruin my whole career.... Do hide yourself!'
They could hear the key turning in the lock again, and Hortense ran to
the window, which looked out onto the street, opened it quickly, and
then in a low and determined voice she said: 'You will come and pick me
up when he is gone,' and she jumped out.

"Old Grabu found nobody, and went down again in great surprise, and a
quarter of an hour later Monsieur Sigisbert came to me and related his
adventure. The girl had remained at the foot of the wall unable to get
up, as she had fallen from the second story, and I went with him to
fetch her. It was raining in torrents, and I brought the unfortunate
girl home with me, for the right leg was broken in three places, and the
bones had come out through the flesh. She did not complain, and merely
said, with admirable resignation: 'I am punished, well punished!'

"I sent for assistance and for the workgirl's friends and told them a
made-up story of a runaway carriage which had knocked her down and lamed
her, outside my door. They believed me, and the gendarmes for a whole
month tried in vain to find the author of this accident.

"That is all! And I say that this woman was a heroine, and belonged to
the race of those who accomplished the grandest deeds in history.

"That was her only love affair, and she died a virgin. She was a martyr,
a noble soul, a sublimely devoted woman! And if I did not absolutely
admire her, I should not have told you this story, which I would never
tell anyone during her life: you understand why."

The doctor ceased; Mamma cried and Papa said some words which I did not
catch; then they left the room, and I remained on my knees in the
armchair and sobbed, while I heard a strange noise of heavy footsteps
and something knocking against the side of the staircase.

They were carrying away Clochette's body.

THE MARQUIS DE FUMEROL

Roger de Toumevill