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Chapter 15 Fifteen returns to the farm

Demon Swamp 喬治.桑 2193Words 2023-02-05
A quarter of an hour later, they had crossed the wilderness and were running on the road. Xiaoqing neighed every time he saw something he recognized.Little Pierre related to his father all that he could understand. As soon as we got there, he said, we'd go to the sheepfolds right away to see the fine sheep, and the fellow came to talk to my Mary.As for me, I climbed into the sheep trough to play, and the guy didn't see me.After he had said hello to my Mary, he went to kiss her. Did you let him kiss you, Mary?said Germain, trembling with anger. I thought it was a kind of etiquette, a local custom for newcomers, like in your village, where the old grandmother hugs and kisses the girls who come to work to show them that she takes them in and treats them like mothers.

Afterwards, little Pierre went on to say that he was proud to relate an adventure, and this fellow said some harsh things to you, and you told me not to repeat them again, and not to remember them: so I quickly forgot.But what my dad wants me to say Don't say it, my Pierre, I don't want to hear it, I want you to never remember it again. In that case I'll forget it again, said the boy, and then the fellow looked pissed because Mary told him she was going away.He told Marie that he would give her anything she wanted, a hundred francs!My Mary was annoyed too.He walked over to strike, as if to hit her.I became frightened, threw myself on Mary, and cried out.The guy said: What's going on?Where did this kid come from?Throw me out.He raised his stick to beat me, but my Marie stopped him, and said to him: We will talk later, sir; and now I must send the boy to Fourches, and then I will return.As soon as he came out of the sheepfold, my Marie said to me: Let us run away, my Pierre, and get out of here, because this fellow has evil intentions and wants to kill us.We went around behind the barn, through a paddock, and went to Fourche to find you.If you are not there, the people there will not let us wait for you.The fellow came after us on his black horse, and we fled farther, and hid in the woods.He came too, and we hid when we heard his coming.As soon as he passed, we ran on again, to run home; at last you came and found us; and that was all.Am I right, Mary, I haven't missed anything, have I?

No, my Pierre, it is all true.Now, Germain, you must prove to me, to our village, that it is not because I lack courage and will not work that I cannot stay there. And you, Marie, said Germain, I want you to think, to protect a woman and punish a scoundrel, a man of twenty-eight is not too old!I wonder if Bastian, or another good-looking lad, who has the advantage of being ten years younger than me, will be knocked down by the guy Pierre said, what do you think? I thought, Germain, that you had done me a great favor, and that I owe you all my life. that's all? My little papa, said the child, I forgot to tell little Mary what I promised you.I don't have time, but what I want to tell her when I get home, I also want to tell my grandma.

The child's promise made Germain think at last.Now it was a matter of explaining to his parents-in-law his dissatisfaction with the widow Gailan, but it was not convenient to say that other thoughts made him so wise and severe.When a man is happy and proud, it seems easy to make others accept his happiness; but to be rejected on the one hand and reproached on the other is not a pleasant situation. Fortunately, when they returned to the farm, little Pierre fell asleep, and Germain carried him to bed without waking him.Then he did his best to explain.Papa Morris sat on the three-legged stool by the door and listened gravely to him.Although he was not satisfied with the result of his visit, Germain, speaking of the widow's flirtatious behavior, asked his father-in-law whether he had time to make courtships fifty-two Sundays a year, with the danger of refusal at the end of the year. His father-in-law nodded in agreement and replied:

You are not wrong, Germain, it is impossible. Then Germain related how he had to take little Marie away as soon as possible to save her from insults, even rape, by an indecent master, and Father Maurice nodded in agreement: You are not wrong, Germain; it is as it should be. After Germain told the whole story and gave all the reasons, his parents-in-law sighed heavily and helplessly at the same time, and looked at each other.Then the parent stood up and said: All right!Let God arrange it!Goodwill cannot be forced! Come to supper, Germain, said the mother-in-law, it's not going well with things, but God doesn't want to do it, as things stand, so we'll have to find another way.

Yes, the old man said, like my woman said, find another way. There were no other objections in the family.At dawn the next day, little Pierre arose with Lark, no longer strongly affected by the extraordinary events of the previous two days, and returned to the inattentive state of a country boy of his age, entangled in his thoughts. He forgot all about it, and thought only of playing with his brothers, and pretending to be grown-ups to the cows and horses. Germain, too, wanted to forget about it and get back to his work; but he became sullen and absent-minded, and everyone noticed.He did not speak to little Mary, did not even look at her, and if he were asked what pasture she was on, and by which road, at any time, he would not fail to say what he wanted to answer.He had dared not ask his parents-in-law to take her on the farm during the winter, but he knew she would have to starve.Now that she is not poor and suffering, Madame Guillet can never understand that her little store of wood never dwindles, that her barn is nearly emptied the night before, and filled again in the morning, and that there is even Wheat and potatoes.It turned out that someone had crawled in through the skylight in the barn and dumped a sack on the floor without waking anyone or leaving a trace.The old woman was disturbed and fond; she told her daughter to keep quiet, saying that if anyone knew of the miracles in her house, she would be taken for a witch.She believed it to be the work of the devil, but she was in no hurry to call in the parish priest, to cast exorcisms in her house, and to fall out with the devil.She thought that when Satan came to claim her soul as a reward for his good deeds, it would not be too late for her to do so.

Little Marie knew it all, but she didn't dare to mention it to Germain, for fear of seeing him return to the idea of ​​proposing marriage, and she pretended not to notice anything about him.
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