owever, my curiosity was
aroused. The corpse was followed by eight gentlemen, one of whom was
weeping, while the others were chatting together, but there was no
priest, and I thought to myself:

"This is a non-religious funeral," but then I reflected that a town like
Loubain must contain at least a hundred free-thinkers, who would have
made a point of making a manifestation. What could it be then? The rapid
pace of the procession clearly proved that the body was to be buried
without ceremony, and, consequently, without the intervention of
religion.

My idle curiosity framed the most complicated suppositions, and as the
hearse passed me, a strange idea struck me, which was to follow it, with
the eight gentlemen. That would take up my time for an hour, at least,
and I, accordingly, walked with the others, with a sad look on my face,
and on seeing this, the two last turned round in surprise, and then
spoke to each other in a low voice.

No doubt they were asking each other whether I belonged to the town, and
then they consulted the two in front of them, who stared at me in turn.
This close attention which they paid me, annoyed me, and to put an end
to it, I went up to them, and, after bowing, I said:

"I beg your pardon, gentlemen, for interrupting your conversation, but
seeing a civil funeral, I have followed it, although I did not know the
deceased gentleman whom you are accompanying."

"It is a woman," one of them said.

I was much surprised at hearing this, and asked:

"But it is a civil funeral, is it not?"

The other gentleman, who evidently wished to tell me all about it, then
said: "Yes and no. The clergy have refused to allow us the use of the
church."

On hearing that I uttered a prolonged _A--h_! of astonishment. I could
not understand it at all, but my obliging neighbor continued:

"It is rather a long story. This young woman committed suicide, and that
is the reason why she cannot be buried with any religious ceremony. The
gentleman who is walking first, and who is crying, is her husband."

I replied with some hesitation:

"You surprise and interest me very much, Monsieur. Shall I be indiscreet
if I ask you to tell me the facts of the case? If I am troubling you,
think that I have said nothing about the matter."

The gentleman took my arm familiarly.

"Not at all, not at all. Let us stop a little behind the others, and I
will tell it you, although it is a very sad story. We have plenty of
tim