But see, out there, on the edge of the meadow, under the arch of trees bathed in a shining mist, two figures are walking side by side.

The man was the taller, and held his arm about his sweetheart’s neck and kissed her brow every little while.  They imparted life, all at once, to the placid landscape in which they were framed as by a heavenly hand.  The two seemed but a single being, the being for whom was destined this calm and silent night, and they came toward the priest as a living answer, the response his Master sent to his questionings.

He stood still, his heart beating, all upset; and it seemed to him that he saw before him some biblical scene, like the loves of Ruth and Boaz, the accomplishment of the will of the Lord, in some of those glorious stories of which the sacred books tell.  The verses of the Song of Songs began to ring in his ears, the appeal of passion, all the poetry of this poem replete with tenderness.

And he said unto himself:  “Perhaps God has made such nights as these to idealize the love of men.”

He shrank back from this couple that still advanced with arms intertwined.  Yet it was his niece.  But he asked himself now if he would not be disobeying God.  And does not God permit love, since He surrounds it with such visible splendor?

And he went back musing, almost ashamed, as if he had intruded into a temple where he had, no right to enter.

WAITER, A “BOCK”

Why did I go into that beer hall on that particular evening?  I do not know.  It was cold; a fine rain, a flying mist, veiled the gas lamps with a transparent fog, made the side walks reflect the light that streamed from the shop windows—­lighting up the soft slush and the muddy feet of the passers-by.

I was going nowhere in particular; was simply having a short walk after dinner.  I had passed the Credit Lyonnais, the Rue Vivienne, and several other streets.  I suddenly descried a large beer hall which was more than half full.  I walked inside, with no object in view.  I was not the least thirsty.

I glanced round to find a place that was not too crowded, and went and sat down by the side of a man who seemed to me to be old, and who was smoking a two-sous clay pipe, which was as black as coal.  From six to eight glasses piled up on the table in front of him indicated the number of “bocks” he had already absorbed.  At a glance I recognized a “regular,” one of those frequenters of beer houses who come in the morning when the place opens, and do not leave till evening when it is about to close.  He was dirty, bald on top of his head, with a fringe of iron-gray hair falling on the collar of his frock coat.  His clothes, much too large for him, appeared to have been made for him at a time when he was corpulent.  One could guess that he did not wear suspenders, for he could not take ten steps without having to stop to pull up his trousers.  Did he wear a vest?  The mere thought of his boots and of that which they covered filled me with horror.  The frayed cuffs were perfectly black at the edges, as were his nails.