e he had possessed had left him, he was
now quite an idiot. The gash in his skull must have reached his brain,
for he had become a mere animal. The mind of a child of five dwelt in
his sturdy frame. He laughed and stammered, he could no longer pronounce
his words properly, and he was as submissively obedient as a sheep.
Cadine took entire possession of him again; surprised, at first, at the
alteration in him, and then quite delighted at having this big fellow to
do exactly as she liked with. He was her doll, her toy, her slave in
all respects but one: she could not prevent him from going off to Madame
Quenu's every now and then. She thumped him, but he did not seem to feel
her blows; as soon as she had slung her basket round her neck, and set
off to sell her violets in the Rue du Pont Neuf and the Rue de Turbigo,
he went to prowl about in front of the pork shop.

"Come in!" Lisa cried to him.

She generally gave him some gherkins, of which he was extremely fond;
and he ate them, laughing in a childish way, whilst he stood in front of
the counter. The sight of the handsome mistress of the shop filled him
with rapture; he often clapped his hands with joy and began to jump
about and vent little cries of pleasure, like a child delighted at
something shown to it. On the first few occasions when he came to see
her after leaving the hospital Lisa had feared that he might remember
what had happened.

"Does your head still hurt you?" she asked him.

But he swayed about and burst into a merry laugh as he answered no; and
then Lisa gently inquired: "You had a fall, hadn't you?"

"Yes, a fall, fall, fall," he sang, in a happy voice, tapping his skull
the while.

Then, as though he were in a sort of ecstasy, he continued in lingering
notes, as he gazed at Lisa, "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!" This
quite touched Madame Quenu. She had prevailed upon Gavard to keep him
in his service. It was on the occasions when he so humbly vented his
admiration that she caressed his chin, and told him that he was a good
lad. He smiled with childish satisfaction, at times closing his eyes
like some domestic pet fondled by its mistress; and Lisa thought to
herself that she was making him some compensation for the blow with
which she had felled him in the cellar of the poultry market.

However, the Quenus' establishment still remained under a cloud. Florent
sometimes ventured to show himself, and shook hands with his brother,
while Lisa obse