"Hello, Miss Maybelle! How are you today?"
Maybelle doesn't repond well to cliches and hackneyed greetings. Sometimes she doesn't respond at all. This time she gets straight to the point.
"Putois says to tell you something."
Ned is puzzled, but decides to humor the child. He scratches his head.
"Now, let me see. Do I know Putois?"
Maybelle stamps her foot impatiently. "You saw him in the garden. He told you to save Saint-Pierre."
"Oh," says Ned, "he's the gardener chap. Yes, I remember him and his little song. I didn't know it was a command."
"He says to tell you, Saint-Pierre is in the manger. You have to save him, or go on being poor."
"I see," says Ned, although he doesn't. "And who is Saint-Pierre?"
"He was one of the twelve 'Postles."
"Right. Right-o! But how can he be in the manger, after all these years?" And where in the world is the manger, Ned wonders; are there stables somewhere?
"You have to ask Putois," says Maybelle. "That's all I know."
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