They turned to the left; she was walking very slowly now; her legs threatened to give way, and her heart was beating so violently that she felt as if she should be suffocated, while at every step she murmured, as if in prayer:
"Oh! good heavens! good heavens!"
Monsieur d"Apreval, who was also nervous and rather pale, said to her somewhat gruffly:
"If you cannot manage to command your feelings better, you will betray yourself immediately. Do try and restrain yourself."
"How can I?" she replied. "My child! When I think that I am going to see my child!"
They were going along one of those narrow country lanes between farmyards, that are buried beneath a double row of beech trees, by the sides of the ditches, and suddenly they found themselves in front of a gate, over which there hung a young spruce-fir.
"This is it," he said.
She stopped suddenly and looked about her. The courtyard, which was planted with apple-trees, was large and extended as far as the small, thatched dwelling-house. Opposite to it, were the stable, the barn, the cow-house and the poultry-house, while the gig, wagon and the manure cart were under a slated outhouse. Four calves were grazing under the shade of the trees, and black hens were wandering all about the enclosure.
All was perfectly still; the house door was open, but n.o.body was to be seen, and so they went in, when immediately a large, black dog came out of a barrel that was standing under a pear tree, and began to bark furiously.
There were four bee-hives on boards against the wall of the house.
Monsieur d"Apreval stood outside and called out:
"Is anybody at home?"
Then a girl appeared, a little girl of about ten, dressed in a chemise and a linen petticoat, with dirty, bare legs, and a timid and cunning look. She remained standing in the doorway, as if to prevent any one going in.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Is your father in?"
"No."
"Where is he?"
"I don"t know."
"And your mother?"
"Gone after the cows."
"Will she be back soon?"
"I don"t know."
But suddenly, the old woman, as if she feared that he might force her to return, said quickly:
"I will not go without having seen him."
"We will wait for him, my dear friend."
As they turned away, they saw a peasant woman coming towards the house, carrying two tin pails, which appeared to be heavy, and which glistened brightly in the sunlight.
She limped with her right leg, and in her brown, knitted jacket, that was faded by the sun, and washed out by the rain, she looked like a poor, wretched, dirty servant.
"Here is Mamma," the child said.
When she got close to the house, she looked at the strangers angrily and suspiciously, and then she went in, as if she had not seen them. She looked old, and had a hard, yellow, wrinkled face, one of those wooden faces like country people so often have.
Monsieur d"Apreval called her back.
"I beg your pardon, Madame, but we came in to know whether you could sell us two gla.s.ses of milk."
She was grumbling when she reappeared in the door, after putting down her pails.
"I don"t sell milk," she replied.
"We are very thirsty," he said, "and Madame is old and very tired. Can we not get something to drink?"
The peasant woman gave them an uneasy and cunning glance, and then she made up her mind.
"As you are here, I will give you some," she said, going into the house, and almost immediately the child came out and brought two chairs, which she placed under an apple tree, and then the mother in turn brought out two bowls of foaming milk, which she gave to the visitors. She did not return to the house, however, but remained standing near them, as if to watch them and to find out for what purpose they had come there.
"You have come from Fecamp?" she said.
"Yes," Monsieur d"Apreval replied, "we are staying at Fecamp for the summer."
And then after a short silence he continued:
"Have you any fowls you could sell us, every week?"
The woman hesitated for a moment, and then replied:
"Yes, I think I have. I suppose you want young ones?"
"Yes, of course."
"What do you pay for them in the market?"
D"Apreval, who had not the least idea, turned to his companion:
"What are you paying for poultry in Fecamp, my dear lady?"
"Four francs, and four francs, fifty centimes," she said with her eyes full of tears, and the farmer"s wife, who was looking at her askance, in much surprise, asked:
"Is the lady ill, as she is crying?"
He did not know what to say, and replied with some hesitation:
"No ... no ... but she lost her watch as we came, a very handsome watch, and that troubles her. If anybody should find it, please let us know."