106 STORIES FROM DAUDET

heard on the upward road the bells of
our farm-mule, laden with my fourteen
days’ provisions, and when I saw by
degrees above the slope, the lively face
of our little mdarro (farm-boy), or the
red cap of old Aunt Norade appearing,
I was truly very glad. I made them
tell me all the news of the country
below, the weddings, the christenings ;
but what interested me most was to
know what Stephanette was doing, the
daughter of my master, our young lady,
the prettiest girl for thirty miles round.
Without seeming to care too much
about it, I found out if she went to
many fairs and dances, if she had any
new suitors ; and to those who want to
know what these things mattered to
me, a poor shepherd of the hills, I
answer that I was only just twenty, and
Stephanette seemed to me the fairest
thing that I had seen in all my life.
Now, one, Sunday that I was expect-
ing the fortnight’s victuals, they did not
come until very late. In the morning