Son vieux porche par lequel nous entrions, noir, grêlé comme une écumoire, était dévié et profondément creusé aux angles (de même que le bénitier où il nous conduisait) comme si le doux effleurement des mantes des paysannes entrant à l’église et de leurs doigts timides prenant de l’eau bénite, pouvait, répété pendant des siècles, acquérir une force destructive, infléchir la pierre et l’entailler de sillons comme en trace la roue des carrioles dans la borne contre laquelle elle bute tous les jours. →
The old porch by which we went in, black, and full of holes as a cullender, was worn out of shape and deeply furrowed at the sides (as also was the holy water stoup to which it led us) just as if the gentle grazing touch of the cloaks of peasant-women going into the church, and of their fingers dipping into the water, had managed by agelong repetition to acquire a destructive force, to impress itself on the stone, to carve ruts in it like those made by cart-wheels upon stone gate-posts against which they are driven every day.