the omission of which imparted a more awe-inspiring mystery to the
mysteries, sufficiently harrowing before, of his narrative. In vain did
the servants warn us that it was very late to remain out-of-doors, and
that the hour for slumber had long since struck for us; they themselves
were dying with longing to hear more. And with what terror did we
afterward walk through the hamlet on our homeward way! how deep the
church porch seemed, and how dense and black the shadow of the old
trees! As for the grave-yard, that we did not see; we closed our eyes as
we passed it.

But the hemp-beater does not devote himself exclusively to frightening
his hearers any more than the sacristan does; he likes to make them
laugh, he is jocose and sentimental at need, when love and marriage are
to be sung; he it is who collects and retains in his memory the most
ancient ballads and transmits them to posterity. He it is, therefore,
who, at wedding-festivals, is entrusted with the character which we are
to see him enact at the presentation of the _livrées_ to little Marie.




II

THE LIVRÉES


When everybody was assembled in the house, the doors and windows were
closed and fastened with the greatest care; they even barricaded the
loop-hole in the attic; they placed boards, trestles, stumps, and tables
across all the issues as if they were preparing to sustain a siege; and