will go with him?"

"Ah, ha,! M. le Curé. It is all very well for one of us to accompany
him, but think of the coming back alone!"

"Then two must go with him," said the priest, and you can take care of
each other as you return."

"Picou tells me that he saw the were-wolf only this day se'nnight,"
said a peasant; "he was down by the hedge of his buckwheat field, and
the sun had set, and he was thinking of coming home, when he heard a
rustle on the far side of the hedge. He looked over, and there stood
the wolf as big as a calf against the horizon, its tongue out, and its
eyes glaring like marsh-fires. Mon Dieu! catch me going over the
marais to-night. Why, what could two men do if they were attacked by
that wolf-fiend?"

"It is tempting Providence," said one of the elders of the village;"
no man must expect the help of God if he throws himself wilfully in
the way of danger. Is it not so, M. le Curé? I heard you say as much
from the pulpit on the first Sunday in Lent, preaching from the
Gospel."

"That is true," observed several, shaking their heads.

"His tongue hanging out, and his eyes glaring like marsh-fires!" said
the confidant of Picou.

"Mon Dieu! if I met the monster, I should run," quoth another.