"Jacques," said I, "I do not call it impious, like this good woman, but I call it inhuman. What! a man goes to carry help to the dying, and you show him no respect!" This brought the color to his face; and I think, perhaps, that he might have become ashamed of the part he had played; but the women pushed in again, as they are so fond of doing. "Oh, M. le Maire, he does not deserve that you should lose your words upon him!" they cried; "and, besides, is it likely he will pay any attention to you when he tries to stop even the bon Dieu?"

Author Biography

Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (born Margaret Oliphant Wilson) (1828 - 1897), was a Scottish novelist and historical writer, who usually wrote as Mrs. Oliphant. Her fictional works encompass "domestic realism, the historical novel and tales of the supernatural." In the 1880s she was the literary mentor of the Irish novelist Emily Lawless. During this time Oliphant wrote several works of supernatural fiction, including the long ghost story A Beleaguered City (1880) and several short tales, including "The Open Door" and "Old Lady Mary."