Part 11 (2/2)

”I am telling you,” interrupted Father Anton mildly. ”He has been forever at that since he was a boy, and then there are the clay dolls for the children, of which there would be very many, at least a hundred.”

”A hundred! A hundred clay _dolls_ by the man who did this!” shouted Henry Bliss eagerly. ”And do you mean to say you never realised--oh, good Lord! Where are they?”

Father Anton's eyebrows went up in almost pitying astonishment.

”But, monsieur,” he said patiently, ”where would they be? They do not last long; and, even if the children did not break them almost immediately, they would soon crumble to pieces like their own mud pies.”

”Mud!” Henry Bliss bent quickly over the beacon again. ”Yes, so it is! It is mostly mud. It is unbelievable! The man did not even have modelling clay to work with!” He swung again on the cure. ”Well, where is this Jean Laparde? I want to see him at once!”

Myrna's laugh rippled suddenly through the room.

”Dad--don't get so excited. Your Jean Laparde won't run away. He's out fis.h.i.+ng now, but he said he would come out here this morning.”

”Out fis.h.i.+ng--come out here this morning?” repeated her father, staring at her. ”How do you know?”

Myrna shook her finger at him in playful severity.

”If you had paid any more than the merest pretence of attention to me last night, you would have remembered the name--no”--she laughed again--”no, perhaps after all I didn't mention it, I'm not sure I hadn't forgotten it myself; but he is the fisherman who took me to Father Anton here, you know--the one I told you might possibly do as a boatman for us while we were here.”

”Great grief! Do as a--_boatman_!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Henry Bliss weakly.

”You, Monsieur le Cure, what time do these fishermen return?”

”But anytime, now,” Father Anton answered. ”The boats go out very early in the morning.”

”Good!” Henry Bliss pushed the cure impetuously toward the door.

”Then, you and I, Father Anton, will go right back to the village and be there when he comes in.”

”But”--Father Anton was quite bewildered--one was literally carried off one's feet--were they all alike, these Americans! ”But,” he protested helplessly, as he was being pulled through the door, ”but if the boats are already in, and since mademoiselle said he was coming here, then--”

”Then we will meet him on the road”--they were already out of the house. ”Now, then, Monsieur le Cure, if you are a loyal Frenchman, step out quickly, for this is the greatest day in the history of France, the greatest day, I tell you, in the”--the voice died away in the distance.

Marie-Louise had not moved. She was still standing in the centre of the room, a strangely spellbound, dumfounded little figure.

”Mademoiselle,” she ventured timidly, ”what--what is--”

”I am sure I do not know,” said Myrna languidly. ”Have you no shoes or stockings?”

Marie-Louise glanced perplexedly at her small, bare feet.

”But, yes, mademoiselle--for the village sometimes, and when one walks in the fields.”

”Go and put them on, then,” directed Myrna. ”And remember always to wear them while we are here. When you come back, I will go through the house with you and tell you what to do.”

”Yes, mademoiselle,” said Marie-Louise nervously--there was a sense of guilt upon her, but wherein lay the enormity of her offence she did not understand. Nevertheless, was not mademoiselle of the great world, and since mademoiselle was displeased, surely mademoiselle must know. She turned hastily from the room.

”No--wait!” Myrna's brain, for all her outward composure, was far from calm. It seemed as though the little stone she had started rolling down the hill in a--well, was it a whim?--was gathering many other stones in its course and developing into an avalanche. She had no desire to go into the details of the house with this Marie-Louise at that moment; on the contrary, it was absolutely impossible. The one thing she wanted was to be alone--to clear all this muddle out of her head. ”No--wait!” she repeated. ”There will be quite time enough to attend to that when Nanette and Jules arrive; and in the meantime you had better go down to the Bas Rhone and help Nanette if you can. When they are ready, come back with them.”

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