it did seem incredibly easy to lose it. It was here, it
was gone, and before you could turn round. With
every full chime of the church clock went an hour of
the splendid and memorable Christmas vacation.
Strive though he might Christophe knew very well
that his painting would have to be left unfinished,
and that Goundran would then take over his job.
Time is thieving and stingy and jealous/ thought
Christophe, trying to ignore that relentless clock; cit
is angry because I am feeling so happy.5
But more jealous than Time was le tout petit Loup;
yes, indeed, he was far more angry and jealous:
'Why may I not also have fun?* was his question;
and there he would stand in the wind-swept street with
a scowl on his brow and his hands in his pockets.
'You paint very badly indeed!9 he would shout. clf
I had that brush I could show you something!'
So one afternoon Christophe gave him the brush,
after which he immediately snatched the paint-pot and
proceeded to breathe rather hard as he worked,
feeling anxious lest they should doubt his skill and
remind him of his incessant bragging; and he breathed
in the noxious fumes of the paint which very soon
brought on his troublesome asthma. Tears sprang
to the eyes of le tout petit Loup, but he rubbed them
away and continued painting; a lump rose in the
throat of le tout petit Loup but he swallowed it down
and continued painting; phlegm worried the chest
of le tout petit Loup, producing a loud and most
painful wheezing, so that Christophe who heard it
besought him to stop, but he shook his small head and
continued painting, In the end Goundran took the
paint-brush away, and Elise marched him firmly off
to the parlour, whereupon he was promptly sick on
the floor, for the fumes had also affected his stomach,
'All the same/ bragged le tout petit Loup the next
morning as he managed to nibble a morsel of break-