186 GOLDEN DAYS 



mark her passage by a wee bead of air 

 that gHstens hke a diamond. This she 

 carries with her to deposit carefully in her 

 nest as fresh air for the children. Alas I it 

 is a little sparkling lamp which guides the 

 sticklebacks to dinner. ... " The Bon 

 Dieu was not half asleep when He arranged 

 it all " — this from old poacher Guerik 

 with a knowing wink. Then : " Monsieur 

 has also doubtless heard how once, not so 

 very long ago, during a time of need, Saint 

 Herbot brought the small red mountain 

 partridges up to our very doors — not one 

 or two as nowadays, but scores and scores, * 

 and each one plumper than the last. Like- 

 wise in the year of cholera. ... My 

 father remembered it well, . . . how in the 

 people's need and poverty the Holy Virgin 

 called the salmon up the river. 'Tis said 

 they lay so thick above the bridge of Karn 

 that a full-grown man might walk their 

 backs dry-shod, from bank to bank. ..." 

 The old man paused, sucking at his clay 

 pipe. The great logs crackled on the fire ; 

 Corantine still slept with tremors in her 

 dreams of hunting, and as the quarry 

 doubled back she gave one sharp, short 



I 



