"Amen!... Bon Jésu!... Encore! Encore, mon père!"
CHAPTER V.
The boy slept. The father stood still by the bed for a time, but at last slowly turned and went toward the fire.
Outside, two figures were approaching the hut—a man and a woman; yet at first glance the man might easily have been taken for a woman, because of his clean-shaven face, of the long black robe which he wore, and because his hair fell loose on his shoulders.
"Have patience, my daughter," said the man. "Do not enter till I call you. But stand close to the door, if you will, and hear all."
So saying he raised his hand as in a kind of benediction, passed to the door, and, after tapping very softly, opened it, entered, and closed it behind him—not so quickly, however, but that the woman caught a glimpse of the father and the boy. In her eyes there was the divine look of motherhood.