er quick walk,
and wishing to delay as long as possible the necessity of sitting at
table. At another time she might have found the dish of golden brown
_croquignoles_ very tempting with its accessory of fragrant coffee;
but not to-day.

"Why do you run about so much, _Tite maitresse_? You are always going
this way and that way; on horseback, on foot--through the house. Make
those lazy niggers work more. You spoil them. I tell you if it was old
mistress that had to deal with them, they would see something
different."

She had taken all the pins from Therese's hair which fell in a
gleaming, heavy mass; and with her big soft hands she was stroking her
head as gently as if those hands had been of the whitest and most
delicate.

"I know that look in your eyes, it means headache. It's time for me to
make you some more _eau sedative_--I am sure you haven't any more;
you've given it away as you give away every thing."

"_Grosse tante_," said Therese seated at table and sipping her coffee;
_Grosse tante_ also drinking her cup--but seated apart, "I am going to
insist on having your cabin moved back; it is silly to be so stubborn
about such a small matter. Some day you will find yourself out in the
middle of the river--and what am I going to do then?--no one to nurse
me when I am sick--no one to scold me--nobody to love me."

"Don't say that, _Tite maitresse_, all the world loves you--it isn't
only Marie Louise. But no. You must remember the last time poor
Monsieur Jerome moved me, and said with a laugh that I can never
forget, 'well, _Grosse tante_, I know we have got you far enough this
time out of danger,' away back in Dumont's field you recollect? I said
then, Marie Louise will move no more; she's too old. If the good God
does not want to take care of me, then it's time for me to go."

"Ah but, _Grosse tante_, remember--God does not want all the trouble
on his own shoulders," Therese answered humoring the woman, in her
conception of the Deity. "He wants us to do our share, too."

"Well, I have done my share. Nothing is going to harm Marie Louise. I
thought about all that, do not fret. So the last time Pere Antoine
passed in the road--going down to see that poor Pierre Pardou at the
Mouth--I called him in, and he blessed the whole house inside and out,
with holy water--notice how the roses have bloomed since then--and
gave me medals of the holy Virgin to hang about. Look over the door,
_Tite maitresse_, how it shines,