Chapter 16 Sixteen Madam Morris

One day, Mrs. Maurice saw that she was alone with Germain in the orchard, and said to him kindly: My poor son-in-law, I think you are not well.You don't eat like you usually do, you don't smile, and you talk less and less. Could it be one of us, or all of us, who unknowingly hurt your feelings? No, mother, replied Germain, you have always treated me like my own mother, and I would be ungrateful if I complained about you, or your husband, or anyone in the family. In that case, my child, you are mourning the death of your woman again.Your sadness doesn't disappear with time, it only intensifies.You have to do what your father-in-law gave you a good idea: you have to get married again.

Yes, mother, that is what I think too; but none of the women you persuade me to pursue are to my liking.When I saw them, instead of forgetting my Catherine, I missed her all the more. It seems, Germain, that we have missed your preferences.Then you must help us and tell us what is on your mind.It goes without saying that somewhere a woman was made for you, for a good God would never have made a man without preserving his happiness in another.If you know where to find the woman you need, marry her; beautiful or ugly, young or old.Whether you are rich or poor, my wife and I, we decided to agree to you; because we are tired of seeing you unhappy, and if you don't change, we will not live comfortably.

Mother, you are as good as a good God, and so is father, replied Germain, but your pity cannot heal my trouble: the girl I love will not marry me. Is she too young?Loving a young girl is irrational to you. yes!Good mother, I have the mad idea of ​​falling in love with a girl, and I blame myself for it.I try not to think about her, but whether I am at work or at rest, whether I am at Mass or in bed, whether I am with my children or with you, I am always thinking of her and nothing else. So it's like you're doomed, Germain?This is just a kind of medicine, which is to make this girl change her mind and follow your arrangement.So I'll have to poke around and see if it's possible.You tell me where she lives and what her name is.

well!Dear mother, I dare not say, replied Germain, you will laugh at me. I'm not going to laugh at you, Germain, because you're suffering, and I don't want to make it worse.Is she Fanchette? No, mother, not at all. So is Rosette? no. Come on, tell me the names of all the girls here, I can't count them. Germain hung his head, uncertain of an answer. All right!Madam Morris said, I will not ask you today, Germain, maybe tomorrow you will trust me more, or your sister-in-law will ask you more. She picked up the basket and was going to hang the clothes on the bushes. Germain was like children who make up their minds when they see that they are ignored.He followed his mother-in-law, trembling, and at last told her Guillet's little Marie.

Mrs. Morris was taken aback: it was the last one she would have thought of.But she was very careful, she didn't cry out, she just thought about it in her heart.Then, seeing her silence embarrassing Germain, she handed him the basket and said: Is that a reason not to do some work for me?Hold this basket for me and talk to me as you go.Have you thought it over, Germain?Have you made up your mind? Oh, dear mother, it should not be said: if I could succeed, I would have made up my mind long ago; but since it is not allowed to me, I have to give up, if it can be done. What if it can't be done?

There's a time for everything, Mrs. Morris: A horse will fall when it's too loaded; a cow will starve if it doesn't eat. That is, if you don't succeed, you die?I hope it is not so, Germain!I don't like people like you saying things like that because people like you can think what they say.You are the kind of man of courage, and weakness is dangerous to a strong man.Come on, raise your hopes.I think, for a girl who lives in poverty, if you give her so much face by pursuing her, she won't be able to reject you. But in fact she rejected me. What reason did she tell you?

She said that you have always taken care of her, that her family owes your family a lot of love, and she didn't want me to give up a marriage with a rich family to make you feel depressed. If she says that, it proves that she has a good heart, that she is upright.But, Germain, she will not cure you by telling you this, for she will surely tell you that she loves you and will marry you if we agree. Worst of all, she said her heart wasn't with me. If what she said is not from the heart, and the purpose is to make you leave her, then this child is worthy of our love, and we can ignore her youth because she is very sensible.

Yeah?Germain said that he was excited by hopes that he had never had, which was very sensible and appropriate to her!If she is so sensible, I am afraid that is why I dislike her. Germain, said Madame Morris, promise me to be calm and not to be troubled all week long, to eat and sleep as before, and to be merry.As for me, I'll tell my wife and get him to agree, and then you'll know the girl's true feelings for you. Germain agreed without hesitation, and for a week, Father Maurice didn't mention anything in particular to him, as if he didn't know anything.The farmer tried to look calm, but he grew paler and more worried.