[节选]THE MILLERS DAUGHTER

For twenty years Pere Merlier had been mayor of Rocreuse.  He was

esteemed for the fortune he had acquired.  His wealth was estimated

at something like eighty thousand francs, amassed sou by sou.  When

he married Madeleine Guillard, who brought him the mill as her

dowry, he possessed only his two arms.  But Madeleine never repented

of her choice, so briskly did he manage the business.  Now his wife

was dead, and he remained a widower with his daughter Francoise. 

Certainly he might have rested, allowed the mill wheel to slumber in

the moss, but that would have been too dull for him, and in his eyes

the building would have seemed dead.  He toiled on for pleasure.



Pere Merlier was a tall old man with a long, still face, who never

laughed but who possessed, notwithstanding, a very gay heart.  He

had been chosen mayor because of his money and also on account of

the imposing air he could assume during a marriage ceremony.



Francoise Merlier was just eighteen.  She did not pass for one of

the handsome girls of the district, as she was not robust.  Up to

her fifteenth year she had been even ugly.



The Rocreuse people had not been able to understand why the daughter

of Pere and Mere Merlier, both of whom had always enjoyed excellent

health, grew ill and with an air of regret.  But at fifteen, though

yet delicate, her little face became one of the prettiest in the

world.  She had black hair, black eyes, and was as rosy as a peach;

her lips constantly wore a smile; there were dimples in her cheeks,

and her fair forehead seemed crowned with sunlight.  Although not

considered robust in the district, she was far from thin; the idea

was simply that she could not lift a sack of grain, but she would

become plump as she grew older--she would eventually be as round and

dainty as a quail.  Her father's long periods of silence had made

her thoughtful very young.  If she smiled constantly it was to

please others.  By nature she was serious.



Of course all the young men of the district paid court to her, more

on account of her ecus than her pretty ways.  At last she made a

choice which scandalized the community.