would be when he passed the greengrocer: 'Good
morning, Madame;9 he would say politely, "surely
your peaches are extra fine? But enormous; I have
never seen anything finer!9 For he knew that this
woman possessed a kind heart, and moreover he
fancied that she rather liked him.
And so she did like him. Her own son having died
she had grown indulgent towards all budding saplings;
and then Jan's handsome face was hard to resist as he
eagerly scanned her fresh, sun-warmed fruits:
'Te, you shall taste them, mon gars;5 she would
smile, remembering the son who had dearly loved
peaches.
But wherever he went it was now much the same;
he appeared to think of nothing but eating: 'C£spi, I
am hungry;' he would say, getting home, 'Maman,
give me some cheese and a fat chunk of bread. I
cannot endure to wait until dinner!5
'You are worse than Christophe!5 his mother would
snap.
Then Jan would shock her by being disgusting: he
would laugh and protest that a ver solitaire was a
very exacting and active worm, requiring to be
constantly nourished and pampered: 'Otherwise it
will bite!5 he might say with a grin, 'So please hurry
before it becomes really angry/
And while she prepared the impromptu meal he
would quietly slip away to his bedroom, there to put
the peaches under the bed together with the gifts from
fat Madame Hermitte. And these would be joined a
little later by cheese and thick bread from his breeches5
pocket. As crafty as any conjurer he grew at deceiving
his grumbling and stingy mother: 'Look, it has gone!5
he would suddenly exclaim, 'All gone! Pecaire, my
poor worm was famished.5
It might be the next day that he sought out Chris-
tophe, or perhaps it might be the very same evening:
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