second; when she returned, she found no parrot! She hunted among the
bushes, on the bank of the river, and on the roofs, without paying any
attention to Madame Aubain who screamed at her: "Take care! you must be
insane!" Then she searched every garden in Pont-l'Eveque and stopped the
passers-by to inquire of them: "Haven't you perhaps seen my parrot?"
To those who had never seen the parrot, she described him minutely.
Suddenly she thought she saw something green fluttering behind the mills
at the foot of the hill. But when she was at the top of the hill she
could not see it. A hod-carrier told her that he had just seen the bird
in Saint-Melaine, in Mother Simon's store. She rushed to the place. The
people did not know what she was talking about. At last she came home,
exhausted, with her slippers worn to shreds, and despair in her heart.
She sat down on the bench near Madame and was telling of her search when
presently a light weight dropped on her shoulder--Loulou! What the deuce
had he been doing? Perhaps he had just taken a little walk around the
town!

She did not easily forget her scare; in fact, she never got over it. In
consequence of a cold, she caught a sore throat; and some time later
she had an earache. Three years later she was stone deaf, and spoke in
a very loud voice even in church. Although her sins might have been
proclaimed throughout the diocese without any shame to herself, or ill
effects to the community, the cure thought it advisable to receive her
confession in the vestry-room.

Imaginary buzzings also added to her bewilderment. Her mistress often
said to her: "My goodness, how stupid you are!" and she would answer:
"Yes, Madame," and look for something.

The narrow circle of her ideas grew more restricted than it already was;