ss of
cider or wine that flowed through his gullet he thought he was regaining
something of his own property, getting back a little of his money which
all those gluttons were devouring, saving in fact a portion of his own
means. And he ate in silence with the obstinacy of a miser who hides
his coppers, with the same gloomy persistence with which he formerly
performed his daily labors.

But all of a sudden he noticed at the end of the table Celeste's child
on a woman's lap, and his eye remained fixed on the little boy. He went
on eating, with his glance riveted on the youngster, into whose mouth
the woman who minded him every now and then put a little morsel which he
nibbled at. And the old man suffered more from the few mouthfuls sucked
by this little chap than from all that the others swallowed.

The meal lasted till evening. Then every one went back home.

Cesaire raised up old Amable.

"Come, daddy, we must go home," said he.

And he put the old man's two sticks in his hands.

Celeste took her child in her arms, and they went on slowly through the
pale night whitened by the snow. The deaf old man, three-fourths tipsy,
and even more malicious under the influence of drink, refused to go
forward. Several times he even sat down with the object of making his
daughter-in-law catch cold, and he kept whining, without uttering a
word, giving vent to a sort of continuous groaning as if he were in
pain.

When they reached home he at once climbed up to his loft, while Cesaire
made a bed for the child near the deep niche where he was going to
lie down with his wife. But as the newly wedded pair could not sleep
immediately, they heard the old man for a long time moving about on his
bed of straw, and he even talked aloud several times, whether it was
that he was dreaming or that he let his thoughts escape through his
mouth, in spite of himself, not being able to keep them back, under the
obsession of a fixed idea.

When he came down his ladder next morning he saw his daughter-in-law
looking after the housekeeping.

She cried out to him:

"Come, daddy, hurry on! Here's some good soup."

And she placed at the end of the table the round black earthen bowl
filled with steaming liquid. He sat down without giving any answer,
seized the hot bowl, warmed his hands with it in his customary fashion,
and, as it was very cold, even pressed it against his breast to try to
make a little of the living heat of the boiling liquid ente