But I dropped him then and there, in the middle of the phrase in which he was floundering; and, in a cutting voice, I said these words:
"I ask Monsieur's pardon.
I have no time to talk to Monsieur. Madame is waiting for me."
"Sapristi! Celestine, listen to me a moment."
"No, Monsieur."
When I turned the corner of the path leading to the house, I could see Monsieur. He had not stirred from the spot.
With head lowered, and irresolute legs, he was still looking at the muck-heap, scratching his neck. _____
After dinner, in the salon, Monsieur and Madame had a hot quarrel.
Madame said:
"I tell you that you are paying attention to this girl."
Monsieur answered: "I?
Well, indeed, that's an idea!
Come, my pet; such a loose creature,—a dirty thing, and possibly diseased. Oh! really, that is too much."
Madame resumed: "Do you think, then, that I don't know your conduct and your tastes?"
"Permit me; oh! permit me."
"And all the dirty creatures whom you meet in the fields!"
I heard the floor creak under Monsieur's feet, as he walked back and forth in the salon, with feverish animation.
"I?
Well, indeed, such ideas as you have!
Where did you find them all, my pet?"
Madame was obstinate:
"And the little Jezureau? And only fifteen years old, you wretch!
And on whose account I had to pay five hundred francs!
But for which, to-day you perhaps would be in prison, like your thief of a father."
Monsieur stopped walking.
He sank into a chair. He became silent.
The discussion ended with these words from Madame:
"However, it is all one to me.
I am not jealous.
You can behave as you like with this Celestine.
But it must not cost me any money."
Oh, no!
Now I have them both. _____
This evening we remained longer than usual in the kitchen.
I helped Marianne to make up her accounts.
She did not succeed in getting them straight.
I have noticed that, like all trusted persons, she pinches here, and steals there, all that she can. She even has tricks that astonish me; but she has to make her accounts square with them.
Sometimes she gets lost in her figures, which embarrasses her greatly with Madame, who is very quick to find out anything wrong in them.
Joseph is becoming a little more human with us.
Now, from time to time, he condescends to speak to me. This evening, for instance, he did not go as usual to see the sacristan, his intimate friend.
And, while Marianne and I were working, he read the
"Libre Parole."
That is his newspaper.
He does not admit that any other is fit to read.
I have noticed that several times, while reading, he looked at me with a new expression in his eyes.
The reading finished, Joseph saw fit to tell me what his political opinions are.
He is weary of the republic, which is ruining and disgracing him.
He wants a sword.
"As long as we do not have a sword, and a very red one, there will be nothing done," said he.
He is for religion ... because ... in short ... well ... he is for religion.