صفحة 708 من 1118

Suddenly footsteps and joyous exclamations were heard; they

proceeded from the children of the family, who were returning

from church. Two little girls and a little boy ran into the room;

stopping a moment to eye the stranger, they then came to their

mother, one asking the name of their unknown guest, another

wanting to relate the wonders they had seen. The good dame

replied to them all with "Be quiet; silence!" The master of the

house then entered with a calmer step; but with joy diffused over

his countenance. He was the tailor of the village and its

environs; a man who knew how to read, and who had even read, more

than once, the Legend of the Saints and the Reali di Francia; he

was regarded by the peasants as a man of knowledge, and when they

lavished their praises on him, he repelled them with much

modesty, only saying that he had indeed mistaken his vocation,

and that, perhaps, if he had studied-- Notwithstanding this

little vanity he was the best natured man in the world.