to us,—­they were so small and low upon the broken ground that we could not see them.  Our Agnes crept close to me; we went with one accord to the seat before the door.  We did not say ‘I will go,’ but went by one impulse, for our hearts were there; and we were glad to taste the freshness of the night and be silent after all our labours.  We leant upon each other in our weariness.  ‘Ma mere,’ she said, ’where is he now, our Martin?’ and wept.  ’He is where there is the most to do, be thou sure of that,’ I cried, but wept not.  For what did I bring him into the world but for this end?

Were I to go day by day and hour by hour over that time of trouble, the story would not please any one.  Many were brave and forgot their own sorrows to occupy themselves with those of others, but many also were not brave.  There were those among us who murmured and complained.  Some would contend with us to let them go and call their husbands, and leave the miserable country where such things could happen.  Some would rave against the priests and the government, and some against those who neglected and offended the Holy Church.  Among them there were those who did not hesitate to say it was our fault, though how we were answerable they could not tell.  We were never at any time of the day or night without a sound of some one weeping or bewailing herself, as if she were the only sufferer, or crying out against those who had brought her here, far from all her friends.  By times it seemed to me that I could bear it no longer, that it was but justice to turn those murmurers (pleureuses) away, and let them try what better they could do for themselves.  But in this point Madame Martin surpassed me.  I do not grudge to say it.  She was better than I was, for she was more patient.  She wept with the weeping women, then dried her eyes and smiled upon them without a thought of anger—­whereas I could have turned them to the door.  One thing, however, which I could not away with, was that Agnes filled her own chamber with the poorest of the poor.  ‘How,’ I cried, thyself and thy friend Madame de Bois-Sombre, were you not enough to fill it, that you should throw open that chamber to good-for-nothings, to va-nu-pieds, to the very rabble?’ ’Ma mere,’ said Madame Martin, ‘our good Lord died for them.’  ’And surely for thee too, thou saint-imbecile!’ I cried out in my indignation.  What, my Martin’s chamber which he had adorned for his bride!  I was beside myself.  And they have an obstinacy these enthusiasts!  But for that matter her friend Madame de Bois-Sombre thought the same.  She would have been one of the pleureuses herself had it not been for shame.  ’Agnes wishes to aid the bon Dieu, Madame,’ she said, ‘to make us suffer still a little more.’  The tone in which she spoke, and the contraction in her forehead, as if our hospitality was not enough for her, turned my heart again to my daughter-in-law.  ‘You have reason, Madame,’ I cried; ’there