Finally, he tried to be angry;
but as he turned to little Marie, as if to call her to witness his
firmness of will, he saw that the dear girl's face was bathed in tears,
and, all his courage deserting him, it was impossible for him to keep
back his own, although he continued to scold and threaten.
"Really, your heart is too hard," said little Marie at last, "and for my
part, I could never hold out like that against a child who is so
unhappy. Come, Germain, take him along. Your mare is used to carrying
two grown people and a child, for your brother-in-law and his wife, who
is much heavier than I am, go to market every Saturday, with their boy,
on the honest creature's back. You can put him up in front of you;
indeed, I'd rather go all alone on foot than make the little fellow
suffer so."
"Don't be disturbed about that," said Germain, who was dying with
anxiety to be persuaded. "Grise is strong, and would carry two more if
there was room on her backbone. But what shall we do with the child on
the way? he will be cold and hungry--and who will look after him
to-night and to-morrow, put him to bed, wash him and dress him? I don't
dare put that trouble on a woman whom I don't know, and who will think,
I have no doubt, that I stand very little on ceremony with her for a
beginning.
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