During the summer time, he did not live altogether at the lodge, but would remain a few days at a time to practice pistol-shooting and be close to nature.
"Yes, my friend," said the priest, "I like it very well."
The low structure could now be seen; it was painted pink, and the walls were almost hidden under the leaves and branches of the olive-trees that grew in the open field. A tall woman was passing in and out of the door, setting a small table at which she placed, at each trip, a knife and fork, a glass, a plate, a napkin, and a piece of bread. She wore the small cap of the women of Arles, a pointed cone of silk or black velvet, decorated with a white rosette.
When the abbé was near enough to make himself heard, he shouted:
"Eh! Marguerite!"
She stopped to ascertain whence the voice came, and recognizing her master: "Oh! it's you, Monsieur le Curé!"
"Yes. I have caught some fine fish, and want you to broil this sunfish immediately, do you hear?"
The servant examined, with a critical and approving glance, the fish that the sailor carried.
"Yes, but we are going to have a chicken for dinner," she said.
"Well, it cannot be helped. To-morrow the fish will not be as fresh as it is now. I mean to enjoy a little feast—it does not happen often—and the sin is not great."