were always taken with scrupulous care. His heart beat fast. Little
Marie tried to breathe hard and make the sheet move, but her mischievous
rivals did the same, pushed out the cloth with their fingers, and there
were as many mysterious signs as there were girls under the veil. The
square caps kept the veil so perfectly level that it was impossible to
distinguish the shape of a head beneath its folds.

Germain, after ten minutes of hesitation, closed his eyes, commended his
soul to God, and stuck his staff out at random. He touched little
Marie's forehead, and she threw the sheet aside with a cry of triumph.
He obtained leave then to kiss her, and, taking her in his strong arms,
he carried her to the middle of the room, and with her opened the ball,
which lasted until two o'clock in the morning.

Then they separated to meet again at eight o'clock. As there was a
considerable number of young people from the neighboring towns, and as
there were not beds enough for everybody, each invited guest among the
women of the village shared her bed with two or three friends, while the
young men lay pell-mell on the hay in the loft at the farm. You can
imagine that there was not much sleep there, for they thought of nothing
but teasing, and playing tricks on one another and telling amusing
stories. At all weddings, there are three sleepless nights, which no one
regrets.

At the hour appointed for setting out, after they had eaten their soup
_au lait_ seasoned with a strong dose of pepper to give them an
appetite, for the wedding-banquet bade fair to be abundant, they
assembled in the farm-yard. Our parish church being suppressed, they
were obliged to go half a league away to receive the nuptial
benediction. It was a lovely, cool day; but, as the roads were very bad,