red amazon had recently gone to the canine Valhalla,
for as usual, Mireio had followed her master. ^
The boys plumped themselves down at this table,
then that, making faces at the little hump-backed
violinist: 'Home bosa! Look at his hump!5 they
bawled, whereupon several other small urchins joined
them: 'Home bosa! Home bosa! Look at his hump!5
And the sailor-men lolling and drinking near by,
laughed loudly, to the children's immense satisfaction.
But the little violinist who had just been endeavour-
ing to drown that same hump in Mere Melanie's
brandy, the little violinist flew into a rage and ordered
the pack of them off to God's thunder: cAnas-vous-en
au tron de Dieune!5 he shouted, which caused much
general amusement.
Mere Melanie strode forth flushed and protesting,
her lusty black locks still confined by steel curlers;
and Mere Melanie was not looking her best, since
quite apart from the stiff curling pins, she never
troubled herself to wash, or to powder her nose, until
late in the evening. But the little violinist now turned
to his lady as though she alone could afford him
protection; then made bold by her presence he
picked up a glass, intending to hurl it at his tormentors:
c Anas-vous-en au tron de Dieune!5 he babbled over
and over again, that being the only robust malediction
which the brandy permitted him to remember.
Mere Melanie tore the missile away, then she
slapped his hand and thrust him behind her. After
which she, in her turn, abused the boys, but in much
more explicit and versatile language. Finally she
threatened to evoke the law: 'Unless you go quickly
I send for the gendarme!5 Nobody feared the gen-
darme in Saint Loup, the small boys least of all — he
himself had eight children.
But long before Mere Melanie's final threat
Christophe had left the scene of the baiting, angry
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