When
Madame Bauche sought her out in her own little room, and with a
smiling face and kind kiss bade her go to the grotto, she knew, or
fancied that she knew that it was all over.
"He will tell you all the truth,--how it all is," said La Mere. "We
will do all we can, you know, to make you happy, Marie. But you must
remember what Monsieur le Cure told us the other day. In this vale
of tears we cannot have everything; as we shall have some day, when
our poor wicked souls have been purged of all their wickedness. Now
go, dear, and take your cloak."
"Yes, maman."
"And Adolphe will come to you. And try and behave well, like a
sensible girl."
"Yes, maman,"--and so she went, bearing on her brow another
sacrificial kiss--and bearing in her heart such an unutterable load
of woe!
Adolphe had gone out of the house before her; but standing in the
stable yard, well within the gate so that she should not see him, he
watched her slowly crossing the bridge and mounting the first flight
of the steps. He had often seen her tripping up those stairs, and
had, almost as often, followed her with his quicker feet. And she,
when she would hear him, would run; and then he would catch her
breathless at the top, and steal kisses from her when all power of
refusing them had been robbed from her by her efforts at escape.
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