old fox, he is certainly crafty! Where our Christophe
goes there his cousin will go, and Germaine is con-
suming herself with fury. "Is it proper/5 she comes
here and says to me, "is it proper that my son who will
be a priest should associate with that spawn of the
devil?95 And I answer: "Mais oui, it is excellent
practice; what are priests for but to combat the devil?"
Then she grows still more angry, and accuses us of
neglecting the spiritual welfare of our children. Ehei,
I permit her to say many things, for a man cannot
quarrel with his own flesh and blood, and in any case
what does her foolishness matter?'
But Marie was not c^uite so easy in her mind, for
she also had been visited by Madame Roustan: 'It
must be admitted/ she said doubtfully, cthat Eusebe
is more often drunk than sober — I would rather
that our sons kept out of his shop. . . .*
'Yet I do not think he will harm them;' smiled
Jouse.
However, it soon became only too apparent that
whether Eusebe would harm them or not, he possessed
an irresistible fascination, especially for le tout petit
Loup to whom he presented odds and ends of hide,
rusty buckles, boot buttons, and isimilar rubbish. In
vain did Marie try to persuade her sons that Eusebe
was both hideous and dirty; in vain did Madame
Roustan protest that unless Jan kept away from the
man, she would feel it her duty to speak to the Cure.
It was all of not the slightest avail, so great was
Eusebe's charm for the children. And the most dis-
concerting part of it was this: Eusebe now developed
an imagination, evolving all sorts of amusing schemes
wherewith to add glamour to the children's visits.
Thus one fine and salubrious autumn evening, he
tempted the three of them away from the beach —
although Christophe had fully intended to bathe —
by describing the grapes in his dead wife's vineyards.
as