CI will not.' Loup informed him, folding his ridicu-
lous, twig-like arms,
Santouno, what a way to speak to his father!
Said Jouse: cYou need a mighty hard beating, you
have crumpled Christophe's shirt, a very great outrage,
but because you know well that you are too small to
beat you become more intolerable every day.'
Loup nodded: CI know that I am too small to beat
— if you beat me it would surely bring on my asthma.'
And he wheezed a little to give point to his words.
'I command you to take off those clothes!' thun-
dered Jouse.
Marie ran quickly and closed the window: 'Not so
loud,' she warned, 'Eusebe will hear you; already he
stands at the door of his shop with-his head on one side
as he does when he listens. I think he is growing
deaf of one ear; all the same if you shout like that he
will hear you.'
J6us& breathed hard: CI care not a sou; I care
neither for Eusebe nor the devil. Here have I bought
magnificent clothes for Christophe, clothes that have
cost me the eyes of my head, clothes that have come
all the way from Marseille — from that grand and
expensive shop in Marseille — and this impious child
puts them on, spoils the shirt, and leaves the mark of
his thumb on the collar. But look at the collar where
his black thumb has been!'
€I think it will come off with bread/ murmured
Marie.
eThat may be —I doubt it —but one thing I
swear, I will not be defied to my face by my children.
I order you, Loup, to undress yourself/
'Then how can I go to Communion?' Loup asked him.
Ah, no, that was too much! Jouse stamped on the
floor, so enraged that he himself became childish,
for le tout petit Loup, with diabolical craft, was
gently but firmly fingering the collar.
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