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Clouds of dust swirled around us; we had to turn our backs and cover our eyes with our hands, for the dust blinded us. There was a streak of lightning across the sky, then came a heavy clap of thunder. Etiennette and I had taken Lise by the hands; we were trying to drag her along faster, but she could scarcely keep up with us. Would the father, Benny and Alexix get home before the storm broke?
When Aunt Catherine ceased speaking, and I had not been mentioned, I said, "And me?..." "Why, you don't belong to the family." "I'll work for you." "You're not one of the family." "Ask Alexix and Benny if I can't work, and I like work." "And soup, also, eh?" "But he's one of the family; yes, aunt, he's one of the family," came from all sides.
My new family consisted of the father, whose name was Pierre Acquin, two boys, Alexix and Benjamin, and two girls, Etiennette, the elder, and Lise, the youngest of the family. Lise was dumb. She was not born dumb, but just before her fourth birthday, through an illness, she had lost the power of speech.
"Alexix has spoken of you. He's been expecting you. Who's that boy?" She pointed to Mattia. "He's my friend." This woman was Alexix's aunt. I thought she would ask us to go in and rest, for we were very dusty and tired, but she simply repeated that if I would return at six o'clock I could see Alexix, who was then at the mine. I had not the heart to ask for what was not offered.
That evening and the greater part of the night Alexix and I spent talking. Everything that Alexix told me excited me strangely. I had always wanted to go down in a mine, but when I spoke of it the next day to Uncle Gaspard he told me that he could not possibly take me down as only those who worked in the colliery were permitted to enter. "If you want to be a miner," he said, "it will be easy.
"Take this little case; my godfather gave it to me. You'll find thread, needles and scissors in it; when you are tramping along the roads you'll need them, for I shan't be there to put a patch on your clothes, nor sew a button on. When you use my scissors, think of us all." While Etiennette was speaking to me, Alexix loitered near; when she left me to return to the house, he came up.
Twenty arms were stretched out to take me, but the engineer would not give me up. He carried me to the offices, where beds had been prepared to receive us. Two days later I was walking down the village street followed by Mattia, Alexix, and Capi. There were some who came and shook me by the hands with tears in their eyes, and there were others who turned away their heads.
It seemed surprising that she could live in our life; in my boyish imagination I could picture her flying away with big white wings to a more beautiful world. I was ill for a very long time. At night, when I was almost suffocating, I had to have some one to sit up with me; then Alexix and Benny would take turns.
During this time I explained to Uncle Gaspard that Mattia was my friend and partner, and that he played the cornet better than any one. "And there's Monsieur Capi," said Uncle Gaspard; "you'll be rested to-morrow, so you can entertain us, for it's Sunday. Alexix says that that dog is cleverer than a schoolmaster and a comedian combined."
When she returned from the lawyer's, she told us what had been arranged. Lise was to go and live with her. Alexix was to go to an uncle at Varses, Benny to another uncle, who was a florist at Saint-Quentin, and Etiennette to an aunt who lived at the seashore. I listened to these plans, waiting until they came to me.
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