§3
A few days later the news spread like wild-fire.
'Beauvais has purchased a large piece of land from
Hermitte — they say he will build a fine villa. In
any case he has paid a fine price, and what for? The
vineyard is utterly worthless. Hermitte is rubbing
his hands, I can tell you! It was Anatole Kahn who
arranged the deal; that man has a marvellous head
for business. Hermitte will pay him a commission,
and why not? That seems only fair when one thinks
of the price he received, and the vineyard utterly
worthless. . . /
Marie said to her husband: 'If this Beauvais
comes here every summer it may very well bring
other people . . . perhaps that will help us with
money, Jouse . . .' But this she said rather timidly,
for Jouse, these days, never spoke of such matters.
They were sitting over their midday meal; he
looked up from his plate: 'There is nothing wrong
with my business, nothing whatever/ he said loudly,
'there have always been months when work has been
slack; in my trade one must take the good with the
bad — a good month, a bad month — they balance
each other. Are you and my children not well
clothed and fed that you meddle with things that do
not concern you? One would think that my children
went short of food!5 His face flushed and his eyes
looked suddenly angry.
She sighed. Le tout petit Loup did go short
of his bouillon, his milk and his wine-flavoured jellies
these days, because she could not pay the chemist,
and the chemist was a very unpleasant man —he
made pointed remarks when they kept him waiting.
And then there was Christophe who was growing so
fast that his broad brown chest was splitting his
jersey — always he seemed to be needing new clothes;
262