‘And here is thy other sabot,’ said the second stranger, shaking the water out of it, and handing it back to the boy; and lo! in it also there were two shining silver francs.
Pierre turned a couple of somersaults on the grass. A little Italian boy with a monkey, tramping his way from Cherbourg to sunny Savoy, had called at the cottage one cold April day, and had turned a series of such somersaults on the turf, in the hope of softening Madame Genviève’s heart and inducing her to let him sleep beside Nanette all night. Madame Genviève had refused his request, but Pierre had seen the somersaults and had practised them in private ever since.
Both the artists laughed heartily at the little amateur acrobat, and then, making signs to him not to lose the money, they mounted their bicycles once more, and rode away, leaving the little blue-clad figure standing motionless by the roadside, staring down at the bright silver coins which he held in his hand. Little they knew what hopes had been raised in the poor little clouded brain by the mere sight of the money, or what a sudden determination Pierre had arrived at.
He would run away. Yes, he would, this very day. Had he not the money now? And with care it would take him to England. He had still half of his sandwich, and that would last quite a long time, so he need not buy very much food. Such a chance might never come again. Had he not the whole of the long afternoon before him before madame would expect him home? And then she would have Nanette to look for, for probably by that time Nanette would have strayed a bit away, and she would have to be found and taken home before madame had any time to think of him. And then it would grow dark, and she must needs wait until the morning before setting out to go after him. Yes, assuredly this was the opportunity to try to run away, and go to England; and when he got there his head would not feel so queer, and he would remember.
Taking up his sabots, he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should take them with him or not. He would walk quicker without them, and the sun was very hot, so he decided to leave them. He took them over to the little spring and pressed them down out of sight in the soft mud which surrounded it, and then, glancing all round to see that there was no one within sight, he set off, running as hard as he could along the road, in the direction in which he knew Carhaix lay.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE JOURNEY.
PIERRE went on running as fast as he could until he was quite sure that he was out of sight of the place where he had left Nanette, so that, even if the old woman missed him, and climbed up to the top of the hill where he had been lying when he first saw the two cyclists, she would see nothing of him. Then he brought his pace down to a gentle trot, and then to a walk, for he was sorely out of breath.
Moreover, he had run away on the impulse of a moment, and now that the awful deed was done he felt that he must pause and consider what he should do next.