fellow with eyes like the beasts he tends!"

"I would overlook his eyes for the sake of his eighteen years."

Germain had a horrible feeling of jealousy.--"Well, well," he said, "I
see that your mind is set on Bastien. It's a queer idea, all the same!"

"Yes, it would be a queer idea," replied little Marie, laughing
heartily, "and he would be a queer husband. You could make him believe
whatever you chose. For instance, I picked up a tomato in monsieur le
curé's garden the other day; I told him it was a fine red apple, and he
bit into it like a glutton. If you had seen the wry face he made! _Mon
Dieu_, how ugly he was!"

"You don't love him then, as you laugh at him?"

"That wouldn't be any reason. But I don't love him: he's cruel to his
little sister, and he isn't clean."

"Very good! and you don't feel inclined toward anybody else?"

"What difference does it make to you, Germain?"

"No difference, it's just for something to talk about. I see, my girl,
that you have a sweetheart in your head already."

"No, Germain, you're mistaken, I haven't one yet; it may come later: but
as I shall not marry till I have saved up a little money, it will be my
lot to marry late and to marry an old man."