“Perhaps,” said Madame. “That sermon of your father’s was enough to turn anybody’s stomach, with his talk about devils and witches. But why cannot he leave him alone? A doctor in such a case perhaps, but a clergyman——! Mon Dieu! there they go, the two of them walking towards the woods. What a strange idea! And your father has Monsieur Godfrey by the arm, although assuredly he is not faint for he pulls ahead as though in a great hurry. They must be mad, both of them. I have half a mind——”
“No, no, Mother,” said Juliette. “Leave them alone. Doubtless in time they will return. Perhaps it has something to do with the stars.”
“Silly girl! Stars at midday!”
“Well, Mamma, you know they are always there even if one cannot see them.”
“Nonsense, child. They only come at night. The question is—where are those two going?”
Juliette shook her head and gave it up, and so perforce did her mother.
CHAPTER IX
THE PASTEUR CONQUERS
Meanwhile, following a short cut through the snowy woods that ran over the shoulder of the intervening hill, the pair were wending their way towards Lucerne. Godfrey, a fixed and vacant look upon his face, went first; the Pasteur clinging to his arm like a limpet to a rock, puffed along beside him.
“Heaven!” he gasped, “but this attraction of yours must be strong that it makes you walk so fast immediately after dinner.”
“It is, it is!” said Godfrey, in a kind of agony. “I feel as though my inside were being drawn out, and I must follow it. Please hold my arm tight or I shall run.”