ettes now and then.9 And he actually winked quite a
large wink at Christophe.
Marie sighed. It was true enough that he worked
before school in order that he might assist them, and
this fact had made him exceedingly proud —it had
also made him exceedingly daring. More daring
than ever had Loup become, and so defiant that she
could not control him.
Christophe worked these days at Jouse's old bench
with Anfos to help whenever work offered, struggling
to keep the business afloat in spite of his youth and his
limited training, for he knew how much this meant to
his father. And a number of people had rallied to the
boy, doing all in their power to give him simple
employment, so shocked had they been by Jouse's
stroke, but in spite of their kindness the burden was
great for such young and inexperienced shoulders.
Yet to hear Loup talk was to think that he only was
willing and smart enough to earn money. A scandal
it was the way the imp bragged as he jangled a couple
of sous in his pocket, as he told how he cheeked the
fat Monsieur Bled and had once dropped a dust-pan
onto his corn for the fun of hearing him howl with
anguish:
*Hoi! but he howled!' bragged le tout petit Loup,
cYes, and now he is careful to leave me in peace, for of
course he could see that I did it on purpose.3
Ai! las, ai! las, le pauvre tout petit Loup; he must
cough while he swept for all his fine bragging. The
dust would get into his treacherous lungs and the
impudence would be smothered by coughing; and
when he got home for his scanty meal before going to
school, he might have palpitations because so much
coughing had tired his heart which was less pugna-
cious, it seemed, than its owner. And knowing these
things his mother was indulgent, as indeed she
always had been in his case, for if Christophe was still
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