now she was gazing with dim, rheumy eyes at the
entrance to the shed, and as Christophe went in she
gave him a feeble but thankful welcome: 'You have
come to bring me peace/ said her eyes.
'I have brought you the ointment that heals my
knees. I have stolen it out of my great love for you,5
he answered, misunderstanding her meaning.
Then he bade her roll over onto her side; and this
she did, even as she had done long ago when wishful
to suckle her lusty puppies. Clumsily and yet with
great tenderness he smeared the ointment over her
sores, and over those fearful cancerous growths that
now rendered her body a thing of pity ... of pity,
but also a thing of horror. And she sighed a deep
and most patient sigh as she lay there under his
fumbling fingers that gave so much pain to her
aching flesh, but balm to her spirit because of their
mercy. For she knew that he could not yet understand
that for her there was nothing left in this world any
more — nothing left but the love of God, the ultimate
refuge of every creature. When he had finished she
licked his hand, and at this he must suddenly begin
to cry, his tears dripping on to her great scarred flank.
'I do love you so much, Mireio/ he told her. Then
he said: 'I will come to you every night. You will see,
this ointment will make you quite well; that I know,
because it has healed my knees many times.5
Mireio did not contradict him.
§2
Marie never missed the precious ointment which
cost the eyes of the head at the chemist, since no
accidents chanced to occur just then. For the rest,
the household was so much upset by Loup's asthma
that it luckily failed to observe Mireio's coat^ which
was. suspiciously greasy. Every night Christophe