The  two  abbes  and  her  son  were  pleasant  company  for  the
Marquise  in  the  long,  bright  summer  days.  The  Bien-Bon  was
well  occupied  with  overseeing  the  building  of  the  chapel,  and
as  the  Marquise  watches  the  men  running  about  the  scaffoldings,
she  thinks  how  wise  are  the  ways  of  Providence,  in  arranging
that  some  men  are  willing  to  risk  their  lives  in  doing  things  for
a  few  shillings  which  others  would  not  do  for  a  thousand  pounds.
The  abbe's  and  her  son  are  always  seeking  the  Marquise,  and  if
at  any  time  she  is  called  away  they  think  it  strange  that  she
should  prefer  talking  business  with  a  farmer  to  hearing  a  fable
by  La  Fontaine.  While  her  son  reads,  she  works  an  altar-cloth  ;
but  whenever  she  is  alone,  she  puts  her  sewing  aside,  and  reads
or  writes,  or  goes  and  talks  business  with  the  Abbe  in  his  study.
Mademoiselle  du  Plessis  comes  to  see  her  much  oftener  than
she  is  welcome,  but  she  professes  to  be  so  devoted  to  the  lady
of  Les  Rochers  that  she  is  tolerated,  and  laughed  at  unmercifully
by  Charles  de  Sevigne.  Of  the  latter  the  Marquise  writes  to
her  daughter —

"  Your  brother  is  a  treasure  of  folly  who  does  very  well  here.
