Who knows what would have happened but for this happy conjunction of circumstances?
He stuffed the coin away in all his pockets, and scraping the splinters together he built a fire, which he managed to kindle with the unused flint and steel.
He was no more than in time, for in came Catherine and little Isidore, shivering with cold.
Pitou gave the boy a hug, kissed the woman's icy hands, and dashed out, crying:
"Get warm. I have a piece of business to go through."
"Where does Papa Pitou go?" asked the boy.
"I do not know, but judging by the gait he is going at, it is for you or me."
She might have said, "For you and me."