THE DEVIL'S POOL
hungry again. It is almost nine o'clock, and I have had such hard work in walking over these vile roads that I feel quite tired out. Are you not hungry, too, little Marie?"
"I?—not at all. I am not accustomed like you to four meals a day, and I have been to bed so often without my supper that once more does not trouble me."
"A woman like you is very convenient; she costs nothing," said Germain, smiling.
"I am not a woman," exclaimed Marie, naïvely, without perceiving the direction the husbandman's ideas had taken. "Are you dreaming?"
"Yes, I believe I must be dreaming," answered Germain. "Perhaps hunger is making my mind wander."
"How greedy you are," answered she, brightening in her turn. "Well, if you can't live five or six hours without eating, have you not game in your bag and fire to cook it?"
"By Jove, that 's a good idea! But how about the present to my future father-in-law?"
"You have six partridges and a hare! I suppose you do not need all of them to satisfy your appetite."
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