for gentle though Marie undoubtedly was, she could
be as firm as the peak of La Sauvette when she felt
that she had good Saint Loup behind her.
cAco s'aco,' Jouse had sighed resignedly, and had set
out in no very sanguine humour, for what man who
has just bred a fine little son would wish to adopt a
large, hulking half-wit? Then again there was none
too much room in the house, so that Jouse would
have to give up the attic in which he had hoarded
certain odds and ends of carving by which he set
immense store, since most of them had come out of
ancient buildings. But when he had seen the afflicted
Anfos and had realized his great desolation as he
wandered about the empty hovel, Jouse had taken
the youth by the hand.
'Will you not come home to us now?9 he had asked
him.
Anfos had said nothing, but when Jouse had turned
to the door he had followed like a dog at his heels.
Thus in silence they had journeyed for the best part of
a day, and still in silence they had reached Saint
Loup at the Vesper hour on a summer evening.
§2
As though virtue were being its own reward, Jouse
soon found to his great amazement that he had
obtained an excellent apprentice, for this Anfos was
remarkably deft with his hands, and strangely enough
with his mind as well when it came to the technical
details of his trade, all of which must be taught to
him by Jouse. Jouse's work had become a kind of
compound of carpentry, joinery and cabinet-making;
indeed whenever wood had to be cut or fashioned
for no matter what local purpose, there was Jouse
ready to cut or to fashion. A most handy man, he
could build you a shed or a house for that matter,
3*