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〃He stamped his foot。

〃'No; that's a little too much!  If you think you are going'

〃I had seized his arm。

〃'Keep still; Jean。  。  。  Let me settle it。'

〃I went toward her and quietly; little by little; I began to reason with
her; exhausting all the arguments that are used under similar
circumstances。  She listened to me; motionless; with a fixed gaze;
obstinate and silent。

〃Finally; not knowing what more to say; and seeing that there would be a
scene; I thought of a last resort and said:

〃'He loves you still; my dear; but his family want him to marry some one;
and you understand'

〃She gave a start and exclaimed:

〃'Ah! Ah!  Now I understand:

〃And turning toward him; she said:

〃'You areyou are going to get married?'

〃He replied decidedly〃 'Yes。'

〃She took a step forward。

〃'If you marry; I will kill myself!  Do you hear?'

〃He shrugged his shoulders and replied:

〃'Well; then kill yourself!'

〃She stammered out; almost choking with her violent emotion:

〃'What do you say?  What do you say?  What do you say?  Say it again!'

〃He repeated:

〃'Well; then kill yourself if you like!'

〃With her face almost livid; she replied:

〃'Do not dare me!  I will throw myself from the window!'

〃He began to laugh; walked toward the window; opened it; and bowing with
the gesture of one who desires to let some one else precede him; he said:

〃'This is the way。  After you!'

〃She looked at him for a second with terrible; wild; staring eyes。  Then;
taking a run as if she were going to jump a hedge in the country; she
rushed past me and past him; jumped over the sill and disappeared。

〃I shall never forget the impression made on me by that open window after
I had seen that body pass through it to fall to the ground。  It appeared
to me in a second to be as large as the heavens and as hollow as space。
And I drew back instinctively; not daring to look at it; as though I
feared I might fall out myself。

〃Jean; dumfounded; stood motionless。

〃They brought the poor girl in with both legs broken。  She will never
walk again。

〃Jean; wild with remorse and also possibly touched with gratitude; made
up his mind to marry her。

〃There you have it; old man。〃

It was growing dusk。  The young woman felt chilly and wanted to go home;
and the servant wheeled the invalid chair in the direction of the
village。  The painter walked beside his wife; neither of them having
exchanged a word for an hour。

This story appeared in Le Gaulois; December 17; 1883。






A VAGABOND

He was a journeyman carpenter; a good workman and a steady fellow;
twenty…seven years old; but; although the eldest son; Jacques Randel had
been forced to live on his family for two months; owing to the general
lack of work。  He had walked about seeking work for over a month and had
left his native town; Ville…Avary; in La Manche; because he could find
nothing to do and would no longer deprive his family of the bread they
needed themselves; when he was the strongest of them all。  His two
sisters earned but little as charwomen。  He went and inquired at the town
hall; and the mayor's secretary told him that he would find work at the
Labor Agency; and so he started; well provided with papers and
certificates; and carrying another pair of shoes; a pair of trousers and
a shirt in a blue handkerchief at the end of his stick。

And he had walked almost without stopping; day and night; along
interminable roads; in sun and rain; without ever reaching that
mysterious country where workmen find work。  At first he had the fixed
idea that he must only work as a carpenter; but at every carpenter's shop
where he applied he was told that they had just dismissed men on account
of work being so slack; and; finding himself at the end of his resources;
he made up his mind to undertake any job that he might come across on the
road。  And so by turns he was a navvy; stableman; stonecutter; he split
wood; lopped the branches of trees; dug wells; mixed mortar; tied up
fagots; tended goats on a mountain; and all for a few pence; for he only
obtained two or three days' work occasionally by offering himself at a
shamefully low price; in order to tempt the avarice of employers and
peasants。

And now for a week he had found nothing; and had no money left; and
nothing to eat but a piece of bread; thanks to the charity of some women
from whom he had begged at house doors on the road。  It was getting dark;
and Jacques Randel; jaded; his legs failing him; his stomach empty; and
with despair in his heart; was walking barefoot on the grass by the side
of the road; for he was taking care of his last pair of shoes; as the
other pair had already ceased to exist for a long time。  It was a
Saturday; toward the end of autumn。  The heavy gray clouds were being
driven rapidly through the sky by the gusts of wind which whistled among
the trees; and one felt that it would rain soon。  The country was
deserted at that hour on the eve of Sunday。  Here and there in the fields
there rose up stacks of wheat straw; like huge yellow mushrooms; and the
fields looked bare; as they had already been sown for the next year。

Randel was hungry; with the hunger of some wild animal; such a hunger as
drives wolves to attack men。  Worn out and weakened with fatigue; he took
longer strides; so as not to take so many steps; and with heavy head; the
blood throbbing in his temples; with red eyes and dry mouth; he grasped
his stick tightly in his hand; with a longing to strike the first
passerby who might be going home to supper。

He looked at the sides of the road; imagining he saw potatoes dug up and
lying on the ground before his eyes; if he had found any he would have
gathered some dead wood; made a fire in the ditch and have had a capital
supper off the warm; round vegetables with which he would first of all
have warmed his cold hands。  But it was too late in the year; and he
would have to gnaw a raw beetroot which he might pick up in a field as he
had done the day before。

For the last two days he had talked to himself as he quickened his steps
under the influence of his thoughts。  He had never thought much hitherto;
as he had given all his mind; all his simple faculties to his mechanical
work。  But now fatigue and this desperate search for work which he could
not get; refusals and rebuffs; nights spent in the open air lying on the
grass; long fasting; the contempt which he knew people with a settled
abode felt for a vagabond; and that question which he was continually
asked; 〃Why do you not remain at home?〃 distress at not being able to use
his strong arms which he felt so full of vigor; the recollection of the
relations he had left at home and who also had not a penny; filled him by
degrees with rage; which had been accumulating every day; every hour;
every minute; and which now escaped his lips in spite of himself in
short; growling sentences。

As he stumbled over the stones which tripped his bare feet; he grumbled:
〃How wretched!  how miserable!  A set of hogsto let a man die of hunger
a carpentera set of hogsnot two sousnot two sousand now it is
raininga set of hogs!〃

He was indignant at the injustice of fate; and cast the blame on men; on
all men; because nature; that great; blind mother; is unjust; cruel and
perfidious; and he repeated through his clenched teeth:

〃A set of hogs〃 as he looked at the thin gray smoke which rose from the
roofs; for it was the dinner hour。  And; without considering that there
is another injustice which is human; and which is called robbery and
violence; he felt inclined to go into one of those houses to murder the
inhabitants and to sit down to table in their stead。

He said to himself: 〃I have no right to live now; as they are letting me
die of hunger; and yet I only ask for worka set of hogs!〃  And the pain
in his limbs; the gnawing in his heart rose to his head like terrible
intoxication; and gave rise to this simple thought in his brain: 〃I have
the right to live because I breathe and because the air is the common
property of everybody。  So nobody has the right to leave me without
bread!〃

A fine; thick; icy cold rain was coming down; and he stopped and
murmured: 〃Oh; misery!  Another month of walking before I get home。〃  He
was indeed returning home then; for he saw that he should more easily
find work in his native town; where he was knownand he did not mind
what he didthan on the highroads; where everybody suspected him。  As
the carpentering business was not prosperous; he would turn day laborer;
be a mason's hodman; a ditcher; break stones on the road。  If he only
earned a franc a day; that would at any rate buy him something to eat。

He tied the remains of his last pocket handkerchief round his neck to
prevent the cold rain from running down his back and chest; but he soon
found that it was penetrating the thin material of which his clothes were
made; and he glanced about him with the agonized look of a man who does
not know where to hide his body and to rest his head; and has no place of
shelter in the whole world。

Night came on and wrapped the country in obscurity; and in the distance;
in a meadow; he saw a dark spot on 

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