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"If they had broken twenty crowns' worth of my mother's bones we could turn it into good account; we might make a fine fuss for three hundred francs; Monsieur Gourdon would go to Les Aigues and tell them that the mother had got a broken hip " "And break it, too," interrupted Madame Tonsard; "they do that in Paris." "It would cost too much," remarked Godain.
"Shall you glean whether or no, Godain?" said Tonsard to the journeyman wheelwright, who was saying a few words to Catherine. "I? I've no property; I'm a pauper," he replied; "I shall ask for a certificate." "What did they give my father for his otter, bibi?" said Madame Tonsard to Mouche.
The news circulated rapidly; and those whom it chiefly interested were much surprised to learn from others, who lived on high ground, that a detachment commanded by the lieutenant of Ville-aux-Fayes had marched through the forest of Les Aigues. Vaudoyer, Courtecuisse, Tonsard and his family, Godain, and an old vine-dresser named Laroche, were there early in the morning.
"In any case the Shopman would give them to stop the talk it would make," said Godain. Vaudoyer, the former field-keeper, a man five feet six inches tall, with a face pitted with the small-pox and furrowed like a nut-cracker, kept silence with a hesitating air. "Well, you old ninny, does that ruffle you?" asked Tonsard, attracted by the idea of damages.
When I think that if that cuirassier had only had the courage to let himself be killed like the rest I should still be happy at the gate of the Avonne, and that it was he that turned my life topsy-turvy, it just puts me beside myself." "They won't call out the troops for a Shopman who has set every one in the district against him," said Godain.
If she only had a thousand francs she could be married to a poor laborer named Godain, who knew all, and who loved her like a brother; he could buy a poor bit of ground and build a cottage if she had that sum. It was very touching. The countess promised the money; resolving to devote the price of some fancy to this marriage. The happy marriages of Michaud and Groison encouraged her.
"If he does, he'll beat her," said Charles. "I don't know about that," said the old man. "She takes after her mother, against whom Tonsard never raised a finger, he's too afraid she'll be off, hot foot. A woman who knows how to hold her own is mighty useful. Besides, if it came to fisticuffs with Catherine, Godain, though he's pretty strong, wouldn't give the last blow."
"Tell me, and Francois shall get Monsieur's own order to give you a glass of wine," said the groom. "Promise?" "I promise." "Well then, I know you meet my granddaughter Catherine under the bridge of the Avonne. Godain is in love with her; he saw you, and he is fool enough to be jealous, I say fool, for a peasant oughtn't to have feelings which belong only to rich folks.
Instantly all the peasants became as sober as judges. "Well, my children, I am forced to answer yes, and no. None but the poor are to glean; but the measures they are going to take will turn out to your advantage." "How so?" asked Godain.
Accustomed to get a good proportion of wheat in their gleaning, the false as well as the true poor, forgetting the count's pardon at Conches, now felt a deep but silent anger against him, which was aggravated by the Tonsards, Courtecuisse, Bonnebault, Laroche, Vaudoyer, Godain, and their adherents.
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