could hear the rain battering at the roof, the walls, and the windows,
flowing in a perfect deluge into the farmyard; and my dog was howling in
the shed where the other dogs are howling to-night.

"All of a sudden, when the servant-maid had gone to bed, the man said in
a timid voice:

"'M'sieu le Baron.'

"'What is it, my dear Jean?'

"'I have something to tell you.'

"'Tell it, my dear Jean.'

"'You remember Louise, my wife.'

"'Certainly, I remember her.'

"'Well, she left me a message for you.'

"'What was it?'

"'A--a--well, it was what you might call a confession.'

"'Ha--and what was it about?'

"'It was--it was--I'd rather, all the same, tell you nothing
about it--but I must--I must. Well, it's this--it wasn't
consumption she died of at all. It was grief--well, that's the long