ceased to be of much interest. And a sun they could
tell of— if they spoke God's truth — that would turn
the sunshine of Saint Loup into moonlight.
To the port would come the old toper Eusebe
sniffing the air with distended nostrils, and as likely
as not neglecting his work while some client must
wait for a new pair of sandals. Eusebe5 s one eye would
ogle the girls who, bare-headed and comely, went
about their own business: Te,5 he would grunt,
ca good figure she has — when she is older she should
have a fine bosom.5 And other very personal things
he would say to himself, or to anyone else who would
listen.
When the large southern moon swung up over the
sea, she might find Eusebe sitting in a cafe. The Cafe
de la Tarasque was the one he preferred because
there he believed that he drank the best wine, since
much of it came from his own prized vineyards; there
also the fishermen danced with their sweethearts
and would sometimes make love in conspicuous
corners. But Eusebe must guard his roving black eye,
for tempers were short while knives could be long
on those hot summer nights when the blood throbbed
hard, and the little violinist with the hump on his
back stirred more than the air by his shrill, teasing
music. Eusebe must think of his long-dead wife until
he had transformed her into a houri; and the deeper
he drank of the juice of the grape, the more scandalous
became his unseemly visions. It was certainly as well
that he always forgot them the next morning, since
who knows what he might have told Madame Roustan
— or even the Cure, for that matter!
The men from the tartanes would jostle his table
and make fun of the eye that he could not see with:
cOh, le vieux bougre, he has a stone eye!5 And perhaps
one of them would thrust his girl forward on Eusebe5 s
blind side: 'Behold!5 he might say amid roars of
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