136 STORIES FROM DAUDET

other. I was not otherwise than
pleased, for, after all, the name of
Cornille was respected amongst us, and
then it would give me pleasure to see
that pretty little bird Vivette fluttering
about my house. Only I thought it
better to have matters settled, as the
young people saw each other so
frequently, and I went up to the mill
to have a few words with the grand-
father. . . . Ah, the old villain; you
should have seen the way he treated
me! He would not open the door,
I had to tell him my mind as well as
I could through the keyhole; and all
the time I was talking, that beast of a
cat was swearing over my head.

The old man would not let me
finish, but bawled out rudely to me to
go back to my fife, and if I wanted a
wife for my son, I might go and look
for one of the girls at the steam-mills.
You may suppose my blood boiled at
hearing this language, but I had the
sense to hold my tongue, and leaving