offensive. Then everyone started to fight at once, for
no reason except that the thing was infectious.
Out strode Monsieur Roland, very red in the face:
'Silence! Have you gone quite demented?' he thun-
dered. Then he caught sight of Andre who continued
to bleed, while Christophe stood glaring down at
him in triumph: cBon DieuP exclaimed the master,
'Someone get me a sponge and a bucket of water.
Stop squealing, Andre/
§3
The end of it all was more trouble for Marie.
Ghristophe had got off comparatively lightly, for
although Monsieur Roland was often severe, he was
also a just man and very observant. Having lectured
the culprit for half an hour he dismissed the whole
affair with a warning. But the chemist was bent upon
making a scandal: his Andre, he said, had been bru-
tally battered; struck in the face he had been several
times, and this without the least provocation. Jouse
should pay and pay handsomely for the boy's dam-
aged clothes, the shock, the ointment, the lint, the
bandages, and the doctor; otherwise . . . bien,
one always had one's redress, there was always the
law, one could start a proces. Jouse shrugged his
shoulders and capitulated ; the chemist was very
essential to Loup who, indeed, could scarcely have
lived without him. But Marie secretly heaved a deep
sigh, for the money would have to be taken from
savings.
That evening Jouse said to his son: 'Consider the
expense you have put us to, Christophe. No, but
really I cannot understand this affair. Why did you
strike that Andre in the face? Will you not explain?
It was very unlike you/
Christophe shook his cropped head and looked
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