tinence, which made him not only clever but daring,
so that he had gone to his father's prized hoard and
had dragged out a Gothic panel to copy — the im-
pudence of it, a child of his age! But, pecaire! he
had not copied it badly.
How totally different they were, the two boys —
since their earliest infancy they had been different;
and this difference was very much marked now at
school, for Christophe was not at all a good student.
Christophe was so stupid about learning from boob
that the things had begun to puzzle the master. Of
course, he, Jouse, had never liked books, yet he could
not remember that when he was at school his lessons
had been so difficult to him. Monsieur Roland
declared that by word of mouth the boy could learn
quickly, but not from print. This was grave, for an
overworked master lacked time and patience to make
an exception of Christophe, and already his brother
had passed him in the class — oh, that imp, he was
surely as sharp as a razor! Yes, Marie was right,
Loup was cleverer than Jan in spite of the Grand
Seminaire at Versailles and that sacree Madame la
Comtesse de Berac!
Would Germaine pay soon? How soon would she
pay? He really must settle down to accounts and stop
thinking about less important matters — Christophe
would be making his first Communion and clothes
had to be bought for the solemn event. . . . How
soon would that Germaine pay for her counter?
Germaine had received a measurement card sent from
Paris by Madame la Comtesse de Berac —she was
showing the thing all over the town — Madame la
Comtesse would give Jan his suit — a fine suit he would
have for his First Communion. Sacre Nora; then
Christophe should have a fine suit! Sacre Nona, he
should have a suit finer than Jan's — a count's suit
he should have, a duke's suit, a prince's! He, Jojose,
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