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Three Tales and Another
Three Tales and Another
Three Tales and Another
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Three Tales and Another

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Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist and short story writer, was considered to be a master of style, obsessively devoted to finding the right word ("le mot juste"), in every piece of literature he produced. Although Flaubert is remembered for his novels, most notably "Madame Bovary," he took a hiatus from longer pieces near the end of his career to produce a wonderful collection of short stories. Four of these stories are featured in this edition, which includes "A Simple Soul," a story of love and spiritual awakening seen through the simple life of a servant girl, "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller," an Oedipus-like tale that examines fate and the rewards of benevolence, and "Herodias," the retelling of the beheading of John the Baptist. Also included in this edition is "The Dance of Death," a strange and darkly beautiful tale of a man's encounters with Death and Satan.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 1, 2011
ISBN9781420939392
Three Tales and Another
Author

Gustave Flaubert

«Yo celebro que Emma Bovary ?ha escrito Vargas Llosa? en vez de sofocar sus sentidos tratara de colmarlos, que no tuviera escrúpulo en confundir el cul y el coeur, que, de hecho, son parientes cercanos, y que fuera capaz de creer que la luna existía para alumbrar su alcoba.»No han dejado de correr ríos de tinta en torno a La señora Bovary, que hoy presentamos en una nueva traducción de María Teresa Gallego Urrutia. Defendida en su día por Baudelaire y Sainte-Beuve, reivindicada por Zola y el naturalismo, rescatada por Sartre y los autores del nouveau roman, admirada por Nabókov, es aún hoy un modelo central de lo que debe y no debe ser una novela. La historia de un adulterio en una ciudad de provincias, sin grandes personajes ni ambientes fastuosos, tuvo un aspecto tan realista que las instituciones se vieron agredidas y abrieron un proceso judicial contra el autor, del que saldría absuelto y que le reportó una fama sin precedentes. Gustave Flaubert nació en Ruán en 1821. En 1843 empezó a escribir la primera versión de lo que luego sería La educación sentimental (Alba Clásica núm. liv). En 1851 inició la redacción de La señora Bovary, que se publicaría cinco años después, acarreándole un proceso judicial del que saldría absuelto. El proceso, sin embargo, aseguró el éxito del libro. Publicaría luego la novela histórica Salambó (1962), La educación sentimental (1869), La tentación de San Antonio (1874) y Tres cuentos (1877): los únicos textos, de las más de ocho mil páginas que escribió, que permitió, en su afán perfeccionista, que vieran la luz pública. Murió en 1880 en Canteleu.

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Rating: 3.6501831047619047 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Five, four and three stars respectively for the three stories. The first is a masterpiece on equal par with Mme Bovary, the style is incredibly effective in all its simplicity, the story is really moving. The second one also contains some beautiful writing but the story less captvating. The last one is a rather overloaded retelling of the biblical tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    three short novels by flaubert, the first a simple heart was my favorite. the story told with great compassion of a woman housekeeper in the 19th century. the next two for me did not touch as deeply. certainly flaubert is an excellent writer that works very hard
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    These are three beautifully crafted short stories. I've read Flaubert's longer works and enjoyed them but these three stories are, in a way, more perfectly realised than the longer works. Their charm is in the restrained language and description, somehow complementing the religious undertones perfectly. They are poignant works with well-drawn characters that seem all the more powerful for the sparseness of Flaubert's descriptions.The Hesperus press edition is a wonderful presentation of these short works. I will certainly search out more from this publisher. It's a well-translated piece with a really thoughtful and enlightening introduction by Margaret Drabble that added to the reading of these pieces without over-analysing them. I would definitely recommend both the stories and this published edition.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I once (possibly twice, actually) tried to read Madame Bovary. I didn't necessarily dislike it, but had to stop before I felt I could really judge it or Flaubert. I generally read before bed and when I was reading Bovary, staying awake became difficult. Things did not move quickly. I could appreciate the way that Flaubert accumulated details to establish the mood and define the characters, but appreciation could not keep my eyes open. I have continued to hope that one day I will return to Bovary and give it a fair shot, but was happy to get this from Early Reviewers as a chance to take on a smaller chunk of Flaubert. Since he was only working in 30 page chunks, Flaubert had to get where he was going. It was also striking that he went to three very different places. "A Simple Heart" looks a the sad life of a devoted servant in 19th century France. It is a stark story and presents a complicated view of a very simple woman. "The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler" tells the story implied by the title, switching to a medieval setting and more Romantic style, full of prophetic dreams and religious miracles. It was probably the weakest for me .The last story tells the Biblical story of the death of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod and his wife Herodias. Though the story is called "Herodias" and the most famous character is John, the focus is on Herod and his struggle to decide John's fate. It's an odd story because it has so many elements that seem somewhat mashed together. Flaubert looks at the religious, political, and familial struggles among the Romans and Jews. He also dwells on the exoticism and decadence of the time and place. It's a lot to cram into less than 30 pages, so while each aspect was interesting and I'll want to revisit it, each part also felt short-changed.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'd recommend reading the foreword and introduction after the Tales; though, both are worth reading. By reading the intro first, I anticipated too much of the plots. The first tale is "A Simple Heart." The title speaks for itself. The story is about a woman who loves completely, selflessly and without hesitation. At first glance, she seems worthy of pity and appears to be a bit nuts. She's actually content and isn't really crazy even though she speaks to a dead, stuffed parrot that she comes to believe is the Holy Ghost. In this tale, Flaubert has a way of rendering the common beautiful-- whether he's describing things like the weather and sounds of a village or the life of a common, illiterate peasant. "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller" is about a wealthy man who loses everything, spends the rest of his life making penance and is finally willing to give all that he has for another. The story has a lot to say about human madness and passion. Not quite sure what I think of it yet. The third tale, "Herodias" didn't work for me on any level. It is sort of anti-Semitic; it is choppy and difficult to follow, and is not interesting in any way. Plot-wise it is about Roman and Jewish politics and the killing of John the Baptist. I love history. I love religious history. I love historical fiction. This piece fails for me on all levels. It does, however, have one of my favorite sentences from all three tales: "So he stretched his arms toward Zion, rose to his full height and, with his head thrown back and his fists clenched, laid a curse on it, believing that words had real power." p. 69. Curtis and Drabble made nice contributions to the foreword and introduction respectively. Both comment on the power of Flaubert's use of language or his literary style. For them, as they describe Flaubert sometimes laboring for a week at a time to finish just one sentence, "words had real power." The trademark Hesperus binding, thick paperback cover and sturdy pages will help this book hold up through multiple readings, but the stories themselves might fail to stand the test of time if Flaubert hadn't also written "Madame Bovary."
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Thanks to a senior seminar, I can now appreciate the beauty and symbolism of Flaubert's prose in these short stories. Still, I doubt I'll be re-reading this any time soon.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It seems a little odd reviewing Flaubert, obviously this is good stuff, and while I am pretty sure I have read these stories before (a long time ago) I cannot remember them well enough to compare translations.However, as always, Hesperus have constructed a very handsome edition of a classic work and Margaret Drabble has provided an excellent introduction.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Flaubert's collection of "Three Tales" brings together a wonderful set of short stories. Working from contemporary to ancient and in various modes of realism, Flaubert delves into the spiritual depths of his characters. The first story, "A Simple Heart" is the best of the group. In this story, Flaubert tells the story Felicite, a loyal servant to an uninteresting patron. Flaubert quickly covers her whole life, from her difficult childhood and through her many attachments to her death. Felicite is a woman who feels love deeply, but Flaubert's presentation is very detached and never maudlin. The last great love of Felicite's life is a parrot (which also inspired Julian Barnes' "Flaubert's Parrot") who comes to symbolize the holy spirit for her. It would have been easy for Flaubert to portray Felicite's simplicity as an object of scorn or irony, but he treats her faithfully and never passes judgment on her actions or thoughts. Her story is beautifully told and stands up well to any short story I know.The second tale, "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller," is a retelling of the legendary Saint's life. Flaubert is in a completely different mode here; he is comfortable in the quick and magical progression typical of medieval tales. Flaubert's eye for detail makes some of the scenes more horrific and as such more effective. In particular, the scenes of carnage while hunting and the scene with the leper are particularly well drawn. The final tale, "Herodias," is a retelling of the story of John the Baptist's execution. Here, Flaubert delves into the emotions of religious fervor and political intrigue. He focuses not on Herodias or John, but on Herod. He portrays Herod as caught between competing forces: Rome and the tribes outside his kingdom; his wife and the proconsul; pharisees, essenes, and the fledgling movement spawned by Jesus. All of these competing voices make the story a bit disjointed at times, but once again Flaubert's realism lends a detached feel to the entire story.Margaret Drabble's introduction to the volume is useful in how she ties the "Three Tales" into Flaubert's career and surroundings. The cathedral at Rouen, for example, has a series of stained glass windows depicting Saint Julian's story, and it also has a statue of the beheading of John the Baptist. Such details help bring the stories into greater clarity, though I recommend reading the introduction last if you have never read the stories, so as to be able to come to the stories fresh.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    My first introduction to Flaubert and I was a little disappointed.He writes sparsely, and well, but it felt more like a technical exercise than anything else. These stories, oddly given their subject matter, seemed to lack heart. "A Simple Heart" was a rush through an average servant's life but it left little room for contemplation. "Saint Julian" I enjoyed the most as Flaubert's fleeting style actually suited this sort of pseudo-medieval tale. "Herodias" was probably the weakest, requiring too much historical knowledge and, again, lacking some soul.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I read Madame Bovary in an old translation, several years ago. That's the total of my experience with Flaubert. When I picked up "Three Tales," I wondered, would I be hearing the same, precise voice.Flaubert's voice, via Curtis, was a familiar one: exacting in its choice of details, spare but not minimalist, precise. That's the Flaubert I've always read about, so I think Curtis got it about right. You never feel like the translator has taken the prose where it didn't want to go, or that he's getting between the reader and writer.That said, "Three Tales" was a mixed pleasure, at best. It's very Christian, for one, in a way I never expected from the man who said "epater le bourgeoisie." Flaubert's devotion and evident sincerity was a surprise. It worked well enough in the first two stories -- "A Simple Heart" was a sweet and never condescending study of a good heart, effortless and nicely drawn. Likewise, "Julian the Hospitaler" is a straightforward story, lacking in irony and simply affecting. The final story, "Herodias," was a disappointment. There's not much story there, nor observation. I couldn't understand the point of the story, nor why Flaubert thought it worth telling. I attributed it to religious feeling, nothing more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mon tout premier Flaubert. Limpide et élaboré, magnifique et terrible, léger et immense comme une cathédrale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    With his allegedly "immoral" first novel Madame Bovary, Flaubert established himself as a leading exponent of the budding realist approach to literature with its emphasis on the sometimes sordid details of everyday life. The same elements recur in Sentimental Education but, in contrast, the historical novel Salammbô is an exercise in over-the-top exotic Orientalism. Flaubert's late "Three Tales" reflect these two extremes of his literary style.This edition features a high-profile guest foreword by Margaret Drabble, as well as an introduction by translator Howard Curtis. Both writers emphasize the fact that these short stories are a distillation of Flaubert's craft and amongst his best works. The collection opens with "A Simple Heart", a blow-by-blow description of the life and hardships of humble Normandy servant Felicite. The detached, sphinx-like third person narration is tantalisingly ambiguous - are we meant to feel sorry for the protagonist? Contemptuous at her ignorance? Angry at her too easy resignation in the face of adversity? Or should we admire her humility and loyalty? Much is made of Felicite's quasi-blasphemous mental association between the Holy Ghost and her stuffed parrot. Said parrot makes a final appearance in the final pages, when Flaubert abandons the matter-of-fact storytelling in favour of a glimpse of the dying protagonist's ecstatic visions. What are we make of this? It is unlikely that the secularist Flaubert wanted us to take these mystic passages at face value - on the other hand, the heightened language suggests that rather than demented ravings of a gullible old woman, these "visions" give Felicite a hard-earned dignity at the moment of death.Certainly, for an anti-clerical agnostic, Flaubert's tales show a strange fascination with religion. "Saint Julian the Hospitaller" is a retelling of the medieval legend of the patron saint of hunters in which Flaubert resorts to Gothic tropes for heightened effect - dark forests, rambling castles, talking animals and last but not least a curse which haunts Julian. "Herodias" is an account of the beheading of St John. An excuse to indulge in Salammbô-style exoticism, the colourfully-described orgies would influence later writers including Oscar Wilde.This Hesperus classics edition is highly recommended, particularly for Howard Curtis's idiomatic translation, which was nominated for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    "A Simple Heart' tells the story of Félicité, a young woman who begins work as a house servant after her chance for true love evaporated in the blink of an eye. It didn't really strike me as a story but more of a portrait of the young woman, finding comfort in what little she has, striving to always do good by the family for whom she works thought they seem to pay little attention to her wants and needs, and always maintaining her faith when others would start to falter.In "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitalier", the young Julian is pre-destined to become a saint from birth, based upon visions witnessed by both his parents, and the two treat him as such, delicately, making sure he has the proper education and spiritual nourishment. Yet after an innocent run-in with a mouse during church, he becomes quite a little demon when it comes to the treatment of animals. His cruelty increases day by day, until one afternoon while on a hunt, he slaughters an entire valley of deer but is cursed by the one remaining stag and his life changes forever.The stark and bloody imagery seemed a bit contrary to what I would expect from the someone destined to be a saint. I had a difficult time accepting his sainthood when it finally arrived."Herodias" is a re-telling of the beheading of John the Baptist by Herod at the request of Salomé. I found this tale very confusing thanks to too many characters and encountered much difficulty trying to keep the story straight in my head. And oddly enough, the title character, Herodias, was hardly seen as was her daughter Salomé.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Three short stories by Flaubert, each with very different themes, were a very good introduction to the scope of this giant of French literature. Un cœur simple or Le perroquet, known as A Simple Heart in English, narrates the life story of a servant called Félicité, who, having experienced a great romantic deception in her youth, devotes her life to her employer Mme Aubain and her children. When she inherits a live parrot, the animal becomes the recipient of all Félicité's love and passion, even once it passes away, when Félicité has him sent to a taxidermist so she can keep the bird by her side until her dying days. An interesting story about selfless love and devotion. ★★★★The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitalier tells the story of how a young man who loved to kill animals for pleasure eventually became a saint. After having killed a mouse as a child, Julian, the son of noble parents develops a taste for killing and takes to hunting with a vengeance. He loves to massacre large quantities of animals without a shadow of remorse. One day, after an especially bloody carnage wherein he massacres an entire valley of deer, he starts having qualms about his favourite hobby, but his reservations dissipate instantly when he spies a family of deer and can't resist killing off the fawn and his mother. When he fails to kill the stag, the animal curses him with the promise that Julian will end up killing both his mother and father. Terrorized that the curse might come true, Julian flees from the parental home, but will he manage to escape his destiny? A great story about redemption, but for animal lovers like me, the scenes of carnage were difficult to stomach, though in retrospect, necessary to tell the story. ★★★★Hérodias is the retelling of the beheading of St-John the Baptist. I wasn't particularly fond of the religious aspects of the story, but as a historical piece is was interesting, especially with the description of the party Hérodias holds for her new husband Herod Antipas, when guests make themselves vomit between courses so they can continue stuffing their faces; leave it to the Romans to benefit from all the advantages of bulimia without the guilt. Then Salomé arrives on the scene and uses her charms to have John's head served on a platter. Lovely. Very well told, but not my favourite story. ★★★
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Three stories written by Flaubert in the mid-1870s during a break in his work on "Bouvard et Pécuchet" and published in 1877, making them the last of his works to appear before he died."A Simple Heart" is great, the tale of an utterly selfless servant girl. Flaubert covers her life in the most straightforward way possible; he doesn't dwell on psychological speculations, but just says what happens and lets us draw our own conclusions. His method can seem artless, but of course this isn't such an easy trick, and the final effect is anything but simple. I'm reminded of a comment Robert Bresson made about film: "You must leave the spectator free. And at the same time you must make yourself loved by him. You must make him love the way in which you render things." As with Bresson's films, "A Simple Heart" ends with a transformation, something like a miracle, which you accept because what has gone before has made you love the storyteller's way of rendering things. The comparison shouldn't be taken too far, of course: unlike Bresson, Flaubert makes everything completely natural and believable. "A Simple Heart" recalls "Madame Bovary" in its style, setting and quality.The other two stories were inspired by art in Rouen Cathedral. "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller" is myth-like; its vengeful animals and fairy tale-esque ending couldn't be called naturalistic. But the story has a clear and uncluttered trajectory, and the way of telling it is familiarly striaghtforward in style; I liked it very much. I'm not so sure about the last of the trio, "Herodias". Dealing with the beheading of John the Baptist (it was apparently an influence on Oscar Wilde's "Salome") I thought the biblical surface was somewhat over the top, a little King Vidor; I gather "Salammbô" (which I've not read) is similar in this respect but to my mind it doesn't show Flaubert at his best. Still, the other two stories - "A Simple Heart" especially - have something magical to them.I haven't compared Howard Curtis's translation for this Hesperus edition with others, but it seems very good, unobtrusive and simple; nothing in it jars. Curtis also provides an introduction, and there's a foreword by Margaret Drabble. Physically the book is very pleasing, with nice paper, nice type, and a suitably unflashy cover.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is, arguably, the best 19th century novel, and I am a big fan. I teach it nearly every semester so I can read it again and again. This volume contains a most interesting Foreword by Margaret Drabble, another of my favorite novelists.The three stories are set in reverse chronological order: the early 19th century, the Middle Ages, and during the height of the Roman Empire. The first two represent spectacular examples of Flaubert at his best as a realist writing a story with not the minutest detail omitted. The Introduction, written by Howard Curtis, advises the reader to “think of each sentence less as an element of a smooth narrative sequence than as a description of a separate image in a shooting script” (xvi). Excellent advice for the reader unfamiliar with this master of 19th century realism and naturalism.I thoroughly and completely enjoyed the first two stories. “A Simple Heart” tells an enchanting story of Félicité who spends her life in service to others. Acting as a nurse to her employer’s young daughter, she has developed a close relationship with the child when she is whisked away to a convent for her education. “In the mornings, out of habit, Félicité would go into Virginie’s room and look at the walls. She missed combing her hair, lacing her ankle boots, tucking her up in bed, seeing her lovely face at all times, holding her hand when they went out together. In her idleness, she tried to take up lace-making, but she broke the threads with her heavy fingers. She could not put her mind to anything. She had not been sleeping well, and she felt ‘drained,’ as she put it” (16). Curtis could have had this sentence in mind when he wrote the Introduction.The second story was an interesting hagiography of Julian the Hospitaller. I thought Flaubert represented the middle ages well. The last story I found confusing and difficult to follow. It seemed written in a different voice than the other two, as if Flaubert tried to imitate writers from that period. I much preferred the voices of the first two stories.Nevertheless excellent examples of Flaubert in his last years – still at the height of his powers. 4 stars.--Jim, 1/18/10

Book preview

Three Tales and Another - Gustave Flaubert

THREE TALES AND ANOTHER

BY GUSTAVE FLAUBERT

A Digireads.com Book

Digireads.com Publishing

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-3813-5

Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-3939-2

This edition copyright © 2011

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CONTENTS

A SIMPLE SOUL

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

THE LEGEND OF SAINT JULIAN THE HOSPITALLER

CHAPTER I. THE CURSE

CHAPTER II. THE CRIME

CHAPTER III. THE REPARATION

HERODIAS

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

THE DANCE OF DEATH

A SIMPLE SOUL

CHAPTER I

For half a century the housewives of Pont-l'Evêque had envied Madame Aubain her servant Félicité.

For a hundred francs a year, she cooked and did the housework, washed, ironed, mended, harnessed the horse, fattened the poultry, made the butter and remained faithful to her mistress—although the latter was by no means an agreeable person.

Madame Aubain had married a comely youth without any money, who died in the beginning of 1809, leaving her with two young children and a number of debts. She sold all her property excepting the farm of Toucques and the farm of Geffosses, the income of which barely amounted to 5,000 francs; then she left her house in Saint-Melaine, and moved into a less pretentious one which had belonged to her ancestors and stood back of the market-place. This house, with its slate-covered roof, was built between a passage-way and a narrow street that led to the river. The interior was so unevenly graded that it caused people to stumble. A narrow hall separated the kitchen from the parlor, where Madame Aubain sat all day in a straw armchair near the window. Eight mahogany chairs stood in a row against the white wainscoting. An old piano, standing beneath a barometer, was covered with a pyramid of old books and boxes. On either side of the yellow marble mantelpiece, in Louis XV. style, stood a tapestry armchair. The clock represented a temple of Vesta; and the whole room smelled musty, as it was on a lower level than the garden.

On the first floor was Madame's bed-chamber, a large room papered in a flowered design and containing the portrait of Monsieur dressed in the costume of a dandy. It communicated with a smaller room, in which there were two little cribs, without any mattresses. Next, came the parlor (always closed), filled with furniture covered with sheets. Then a hall, which led to the study, where books and papers were piled on the shelves of a book-case that enclosed three quarters of the big black desk. Two panels were entirely hidden under pen-and-ink sketches, Gouache landscapes and Audran engravings, relics of better times and vanished luxury. On the second floor, a garret-window lighted Félicité's room, which looked out upon the meadows.

She arose at daybreak, in order to attend mass, and she worked without interruption until night; then, when dinner was over, the dishes cleared away and the door securely locked, she would bury the log under the ashes and fall asleep in front of the hearth with a rosary in her hand. Nobody could bargain with greater obstinacy, and as for cleanliness, the luster on her brass sauce-pans was the envy and despair of other servants. She was most economical, and when she ate she would gather up crumbs with the tip of her finger, so that nothing should be wasted of the loaf of bread weighing twelve pounds which was baked especially for her and lasted three weeks.

Summer and winter she wore a dimity kerchief fastened in the back with a pin, a cap which concealed her hair, a red skirt, grey stockings, and an apron with a bib like those worn by hospital nurses.

Her face was thin and her voice shrill. When she was twenty-five, she looked forty. After she had passed fifty, nobody could tell her age; erect and silent always, she resembled a wooden figure working automatically.

CHAPTER II

Like every other woman, she had had an affair of the heart. Her father, who was a mason, was killed by falling from a scaffolding. Then her mother died and her sisters went their different ways; a farmer took her in, and while she was quite small, let her keep cows in the fields. She was clad in miserable rags, beaten for the slightest offence and finally dismissed for a theft of thirty sous which she did not commit. She took service on another farm where she tended the poultry; and as she was well thought of by her master, her fellow-workers soon grew jealous.

One evening in August (she was then eighteen years old), they persuaded her to accompany them to the fair at Colleville. She was immediately dazzled by the noise, the lights in the trees, the brightness of the dresses, the laces and gold crosses, and the crowd of people all hopping at the same time. She was standing modestly at a distance, when presently a young man of well-to-do appearance, who had been leaning on the pole of a wagon and smoking his pipe, approached her, and asked her for a dance. He treated her to cider and cake, bought her a silk shawl, and then, thinking she had guessed his purpose, offered to see her home. When they came to the end of a field he threw her down brutally. But she grew frightened and screamed, and he walked off.

One evening, on the road leading to Beaumont, she came upon a wagon loaded with hay, and when she overtook it, she recognized Theodore. He greeted her calmly, and asked her to forget what had happened between them, as it was all the fault of the drink.

She did not know what to reply and wished to run away.

Presently he began to speak of the harvest and of the notables of the village; his father had left Colleville and bought the farm of Les Écots, so that now they would be neighbors. Ah! she exclaimed. He then added that his parents were looking around for a wife for him, but that he, himself, was not so anxious and preferred to wait for a girl who suited him. She hung her head. He then asked her whether she had ever thought of marrying. She replied, smilingly, that it was wrong of him to make fun of her. Oh! no, I am in earnest, he said, and put his left arm around her waist while they sauntered along. The air was soft, the stars were bright, and the huge load of hay oscillated in front of them, drawn by four horses whose ponderous hoofs raised clouds of dust. Without a word from their driver they turned to the right. He kissed her again and she went home. The following week, Theodore obtained meetings.

They met in yards, behind walls or under isolated trees. She was not ignorant, as girls of well-to-do families are—for the animals had instructed her;—but her reason and her instinct of honor kept her from falling. Her resistance exasperated Theodore's love and so in order to satisfy it (or perchance ingenuously), he offered to marry her. She would not believe him at first, so he made solemn promises. But, in a short time he mentioned a difficulty; the previous year, his parents had purchased a substitute for him; but any day he might be drafted and the prospect of serving in the army alarmed him greatly. To Félicité his cowardice appeared a proof of his love for her, and her devotion to him grew stronger. When she met him, he would torture her with his fears and his entreaties. At last, he announced that he was going to the prefect himself for information, and would let her know everything on the following Sunday, between eleven o'clock and midnight.

When the time grew near, she ran to meet her lover.

But instead of Theodore, one of his friends was at the meeting-place.

He informed her that she would never see her sweetheart again; for, in order to escape the conscription, he had married a rich old woman, Madame Lehoussais, of Toucques.

The poor girl's sorrow was frightful. She threw herself on the ground, she cried and called on the Lord, and wandered around desolately until sunrise. Then she went back to the farm, declared her intention of leaving, and at the end of the month, after she had received her wages, she packed all her belongings in a handkerchief and started for Pont-l'Evêque.

In front of the inn, she met a woman wearing widow's weeds, and upon questioning her, learned that she was looking for a cook. The girl did not know very much, but appeared so willing and so modest in her requirements, that Madame Aubain finally said:

Very well, I will give you a trial.

And half an hour later Félicité was installed in her house.

At first she lived in a constant anxiety that was caused by the style of the household and the memory of Monsieur, that hovered over everything. Paul and Virginia, the one aged seven, and the other barely four, seemed made of some precious material; she carried them pig-a-back, and was greatly mortified when Madame Aubain forbade her to kiss them every other minute.

But in spite of all this, she was happy. The comfort of her new surroundings had obliterated her sadness.

Every Thursday, friends of Madame Aubain dropped in for a game of cards, and it was Félicité's duty to prepare the table and heat the foot-warmers. They arrived at exactly eight o'clock and departed before eleven.

Every Monday morning, the dealer in second-hand goods, who lived under the alley-way, spread out his wares on the sidewalk. Then the city would be filled with a buzzing of voices in which the neighing of horses, the bleating of lambs, the grunting of pigs, could be distinguished, mingled with the sharp sound of wheels on the cobble-stones. About twelve o'clock, when the market was in full swing, there appeared at the front door a tall, middle-aged peasant, with a hooked nose and a cap on the back of his head; it was Robelin, the farmer of Geffosses. Shortly afterwards came Liébard, the farmer of Toucques, short, rotund and ruddy, wearing a grey jacket and spurred boots.

Both men brought their landlady either chickens or cheese. Félicité would invariably thwart their ruses and they held her in great respect.

At various times, Madame Aubain received a visit from the Marquis de Grémanville, one of her uncles, who was ruined and lived at Falaise on the remainder of his estates. He always came at dinner-time and brought an ugly poodle with him, whose paws soiled their furniture. In spite of his efforts to appear a man of breeding (he even went so far as to raise his hat every time he said My deceased father), his habits got the better of him, and he would fill his glass a little too often and relate broad stories. Félicité would show him out very politely and say: You have had enough for this time, Monsieur de Grémanville! Hoping to see you again! and would close the door.

She opened it gladly for Monsieur Bourais, a retired lawyer. His bald head and white cravat, the ruffling of his shirt, his flowing brown coat, the manner in which he took snuff, his whole person, in fact, produced in her the kind of awe which we feel when we see extraordinary persons. As he managed Madame's

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