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Updated: June 4, 2025
She had not told me the night before that she was going to the village, and without knowing why, I began to feel anxious. Why didn't she wait for us, if we were going in the afternoon? Would she be back before we started? Without knowing quite why, I began to feel very frightened, and Barberin looked at me in a way that did not tend to reassure me. To escape from his look I ran into the garden.
I don't whip children, and you'll have the dogs for company. Why should you be sorry to go with me?" "Mother Barberin!..." "Anyhow, you're not going to stay here," said Barberin roughly, taking me by the ear. "Go with this gentleman or go to the workhouse. Choose!" "No, no. Mamma! Mamma!" "So, you're going to make me mad, eh!" cried Barberin.
I had done nothing for them to be so unkind to me. Mattia, seeing me so greatly worried, would say as though to himself: "I am just wondering what kind of clothes Mother Barberin will tell us you wore...." At last the letter came. The priest had written it for her. It read: "My little Remi: I was surprised and sorry to learn the contents of your letter.
I must say frankly that it was a very long day, and more than once I lifted up the cloth that she had thrown over the bowl. "You'll make the paste cold," she cried; "and it won't rise well." But it was rising well, little bubbles were coming up on the top. And the eggs and milk were beginning to smell good. "Go and chop some wood," Mother Barberin said; "we need a good clear fire."
But what struck me more than anything, were the two eyes, close to each other, which glittered like glass. "Oh, the ugly monkey!" cried Barberin. A monkey! I opened my eyes still wider. So this was a monkey, for although I had never seen a monkey, I had heard of them. So this little tiny creature that looked like a black baby was a monkey! "This is the star of my company," said Signor Vitalis.
At last the candle was lit. "Put the wood on the fire!" She did not have to say this twice; I had been waiting impatiently to hear these words. Soon a bright flame leaped up the chimney and the light from the fire lit up all the kitchen. Then Mother Barberin took down the frying pan from its hook and placed it on the fire. "Give me the butter!"
It must have been the influence of this dismal room, for we could only see the darkest side of everything. "And, oh," cried Mattia, starting up and throwing out his arms, "if Mother Barberin is dead and that awful Barberin is alive and we go there, he'll take our cow and keep it himself."
A very rich family it is, that you've got, my boy, my young gentleman." "And where do they live and what is their name?" "Barberin wouldn't tell us anything. He was that mysterious. He wanted to get all the reward for himself." "Didn't he leave any papers?" "No, nothing except one that said he came from Chavanon. If we hadn't found that, we couldn't have let his wife know he's dead."
I was not quite sure, but I did not worry over such a small detail; then when she returned to supper I would serve her a dish of Jerusalem artichokes! It would be something fresh to replace those everlasting potatoes, and Mother Barberin would not suffer too much from the sale of poor Rousette. And the inventor of this new dish of vegetables was I, Remi, I was the one!
At the same time he made a sign to Barberin. "Yes, go out into the yard at the back, but don't move or you'll have me to reckon with." I could not but obey. I went into the yard, but I had no heart to play. I sat down on a big stone and waited. They were deciding what was to become of me. What would it be? They talked for a long time.
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