“She was seventeen, and a pretty girl, very pretty!  Would any one believe it?  I have never told her story before, and nobody except myself and one other person who is no longer living in this part of the country ever knew it.  Now that she is dead, I may be less discreet.

“Just then a young assistant-teacher came to live in the village; he was a handsome, well-made fellow, and looked like a non-commissioned officer.  All the girls ran after him, but he paid no attention to them, partly because he was very much afraid of his superior, the schoolmaster, old Grabu, who occasionally got out of bed the wrong foot first.

“Old Grabu already employed pretty Hortense who has just died here, and who was afterwards nicknamed Clochette.  The assistant master singled out the pretty young girl, who was, no doubt, flattered at being chosen by this impregnable conqueror; at any rate, she fell in love with him, and he succeeded in persuading her to give him a first meeting in the hay-loft behind the school, at night, after she had done her day’s sewing.

“She pretended to go home, but instead of going downstairs when she left the Grabus’ she went upstairs and hid among the hay, to wait for her lover.  He soon joined her, and was beginning to say pretty things to her, when the door of the hay-loft opened and the schoolmaster appeared, and asked:  ‘What are you doing up there, Sigisbert?’ Feeling sure that he would be caught, the young schoolmaster lost his presence of mind and replied stupidly:  ’I came up here to rest a little amongst the bundles of hay, Monsieur Grabu.’

“The loft was very large and absolutely dark, and Sigisbert pushed the frightened girl to the further end and said:  ’Go over there and hide yourself.  I shall lose my position, so get away 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 becoming furious all of a sudden, he repeated:  ’Hide yourself, so that he may not find you.  You will keep me from making a living for the rest of my 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 on the street, opened it quickly, and then said in a low and determined voice:  ’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 trough the flesh.  She did not complain, and merely said, with admirable resignation:  ‘I am punished, well punished!’