could hear any animals stirring, but I only heard Madame
Deslois' voice. It was a rough, strong voice which went right through
the walls, and could be heard everywhere. I was going to the window so
as to feel a little less lonely, when a door which I had not noticed
suddenly opened behind me. I turned round and saw a young man come in.
He wore a long white smock and a grey cap. He stood standing as though
he were surprised to see anybody there, and I went on looking at him
without being able to take my eyes away. He walked right across the
linen-room, and he and I stared and stared at one another. Then he
went out, banging himself against the woodwork of the door. A moment
afterwards he passed by the window and our eyes met again. I felt
quite uncomfortable, and without knowing why, I went and shut the doors
which he had left open.

Presently Madame Alphonse came and fetched me, and I went back to
Villevieille with her.

Since M. Alphonse had taken Pauline's place I had got into the habit of
going and sitting in a bush which had grown into the shape of a chair.
It was in the middle of a shrubbery not far from the farm. Now that
spring was beginning I used to go and sit there when the ploughmen were
smoking their pipes at the stable doors. I used to sit there listening
to the little noises of the evening, and I longed to be like the trees.
That evening I thought of the man I had seen at Lost Ford. But every
time I tried to remember the exact colour of his eyes they pierced into
my own eyes so that they seemed to be lighting me all up inside.

The next Sunday was Easter Sunday. Adele had gone to mass in M.
Alphonse's cart. I remained alone, with one of the ploughmen, to look
after the farm. After luncheon the ploughman went to sleep on a heap
of straw in front of the door, and I went to my shrubbery to spend the
afternoon. I tried to hear the bells ringing, but the farm was too far
from the villages round, and I could hear none of them.

I began to think about Sister Marie-Aimee, and my thoughts went back to
Sophie, who used to come and wake me up every year so that I should
hear all the bells ringing in Easter together. One year she didn't
wake up. She was so upset at that, that next year she put a big stone
in her mouth to keep herself from sleeping. Every time she nodded off
her teeth met on the stone, and she woke up.

I sat and thought about High Mass where Colette used to sing in her
be