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No sooner had the curé recognised Edmée than he started back with an exclamation of surprise. But this was nothing to the stupefaction of Patience when he had examined my features by the light of the burning brand that served him as torch.

"The lamb in the company of the wolf!" he cried. "What has happened, then?"

"My friend," replied Edmée, putting, to my infinite astonishment, her little white hand into the sorcerer's big rough palm, "welcome him as you welcome me. I was a prisoner at Roche-Mauprat, and it was he who rescued me."

"May the sins of his fathers be forgiven him for this act!" said the curé.

Patience took me by the arm, without saying anything, and led me nearer the fire. They seated me on the only chair in the house, and the curé took upon himself the task of attending to my leg, while Edmée gave an account, up to a certain point, of our adventure. Then she asked for information about the hunt and about her father. Patience, however, could give her no news. He had heard the horn in the woods, and the firing at the wolves had disturbed his tranquility several times during the day. But since the storm broke over them the noise of the wind had drowned all other sounds, and he knew