is only a question of waiting. Ah, but that old aunt of
hers is crafty, although I am told that she pretends
to be blind and deaf and unable to move her body.
It may soon be a case of the catcher caught, for un-
doubtedly she wishes to marry her niece to a man who
has purchased his own fishing vessel. . . .*
She paused, feeling more than a little breathless,
while he stared at her out of his bright blue eyes as
though he were lacking in comprehension. And this
was what made him so hard to woo, this vague, rather
stupid look that he had whenever she tried to talk
about women.
'Madame, you mistake;3 he said patiently, 'the little
Elise, as you say, is a child. Moreover it is true that old
Mathilde goes blind; I was speaking only this morning
with the doctor. I have much to consider now that I
have bought my boat, and hardly a centime left in
the bank. No, madame, I am not contemplating this
marriage — or any other marriage, if it comes to
that. I find myself well enough as I am, and surely
a man should not marry a wife merely because she will
do his mending?5
eAh, how like him/ she thought, cto have seized
upon the words which must make me appear to be
lacking in feeling/ But aloud she said: cGo your ways,
my good Goundran, only when you are caught do not
come to my shop and complain that your dinner is
badly prepared, that your house is ill kept and your
socks Ul darned because you have married a chit
from the city. Do not complain for you will have been
warned. I have long thought that old Mathilde is a
witch, and witches are said to give men love-potions!'
Then Goundran laughed: 4Ah, madame, if you
knew her — old she is, but so kind and so full of wisdom.
If Mathilde is a witch, as you wish me to believe,
then you and I will meet witches in heaven. Yes,
and possibly the devil will be there to let them in,