But I was not so grateful to her as it should have been my duty to
be, and thought of nothing else but to bring the science she had
taught me to others, prettier ones. As an excuse for my ingratitude
I ought to say that Jeannette the hurdy-gurdy player did not value
her lessons any higher than I did myself, and that she willingly
gave them to every ragamuffin of the district.

Catherine was of more reserved manners. I stood in awe of her and
did not dare to tell her how pretty I considered her to be. She made
me doubly uncomfortable by making game of me and not losing a single
occasion of jeering at me. She teased me by reproaching my chin for
being hairless. I blushed over it and wished to be swallowed by the
earth. On seeing her I affected a sullen mien and chagrin. I
pretended to scorn her. But she was really too pretty for my scorn
to be true.




CHAPTER V

My Nineteenth Birthday--Its Celebration and the Entrance of M.
d'Asterac.


On that night, the night of Epiphany and the nineteenth anniversary
of my birth, the sky poured down with the melting snow a cold ill-
humour, penetrating to the bone, while an icy wind made the
signboard of the _Queen Pedauque_ grate, a clear fire, perfumed
by goose grease, sparkled in the shop and the soup steamed in the