French beans, cauliflower, cod fish, coal fish and snails,
to say nothing of other delectable things very dearly
beloved of the Provencal stomach. They had passed
from the honest Camp Romain rouge to a soft boiled
wine, insidious and heady; this they drank with the
little festal cakes which were so honey-sweet that they
made the teeth ache. And now everyone talked about
nothing at all, but loudly, so that Marie glanced
down at her child who, himself replete, had once more
dropped asleep. Swaying gently she rocked him as
he lay in her arms, grown fearfiil lest the boisterous
laughter should wake him. But Ghristophe slept
on with one very small foot dangling limply in a pink
woollen sock with a tassel. A faint dribble of milk that
remained on his chin testified to his eager and greedy
sucking.
Jouse thought: CI have waited long for this day
when I should possess a son of my own. Hoi, it is
splendid to be a father/
And Marie was thinking: cSo helpless he is, and so
treasured; it is sweet to become a mother/
From the kitchen came a long-drawn, disconsolate
sound, as of something inarticulate, weeping: *Ai!
las . . / murmured Marie, 'Mireio complains; only
yesterday have we drowned her eight puppies/
A neighbour started to sing an old song:
'Chatouno, chatouno, I will be as the Mistral;
And who may hope to resist his might?
Not you, not you, not you, chatouno !*
Jouse wagged his large curly head to the rhythm.
Presently Goundran got up to go: 6I have promisee
to meet a man at the port about some new tackle — ]
am late already/
' And I must return to my little Jan who by now wil
be hungry/ smiled Madame Roustan; and her smil