Then he remembered his wedding, the old times, the first pregnancy of his wife; he, too, had been very happy the day when he had taken her from her father to his home, and had carried her off on a pillion, trotting through the snow, for it was near Christmas-time, and the country was all white. She held him by one arm, her basket hanging from the other; the wind blew the long lace of her Cauchois headdress so that it sometimes flapped across his mouth, and when he turned his head he saw near him, on his shoulder, her little rosy face, smiling silently under the gold bands of her cap.
Puis il se rappela ses noces, son temps d’autrefois, la première grossesse de sa femme; il était bien joyeux, lui aussi, le jour qu’il l’avait emmenée de chez son père dans sa maison, quand il la portait en croupe en trottant sur la neige; car on était aux environs de Noël et la campagne était toute blanche; elle le tenait par un bras, à l’autre était accroché son panier; le vent agitait les longues dentelles de sa coiffure cauchoise, qui lui passaient quelquefois sur la bouche, et, lorsqu’il tournait la tête, il voyait près de lui, sur son épaule, sa petite mine rosée qui souriait silencieusement, sous la plaque d’or de son bonnet.