They drank, and Goliath complacently tarried there, looking around him like a man who is well pleased to orate old times and things. However, he did not speak of the past, nor, for the matter of that, did he refer to the present. The conversation mainly turned on the severe cold weather, which would interfere with the work in the fields; though fortunately there was some good in the snow, for it killed the grubs. Scarcely did the spy indulge in an expression of vague chagrin with reference to the covert hatred, terror, and scorn with which he had been received in the other houses of Remilly. Every man has his country, hasn't he? And it is only natural that he should serve it as he thinks fit. However, French people had funny ideas about certain things. Whilst he talked on in this strain the old man looked at him and listened to him; and on finding him so reasonable and so conciliatory, so placid, too, with his broad smiling face, he concluded that this honest fellow had certainly not come to the farm with any evil intentions.
'And so you're all alone to-day, father Fouchard?' said Goliath at last.
'Oh no—Silvine's giving the cows their feed. Would you like to see her?'
Goliath began to laugh. 'Well, yes. To tell you the plain truth, it was to see Silvine that I came.'
This answer raised a great load from old Fouchard's mind. Springing from his chair, he called in a loud voice: 'Silvine! Silvine! Here's some one for you.' And thereupon he went off, henceforth without any fears, since the girl was there to protect the house. When a man still hankers after a woman like that, after so many years, he is as good as done for.
When Silvine came in, she was in no wise surprised to find herself in presence of Goliath, who had retained his seat and looked at her with his good-natured smile, albeit he felt somewhat uncomfortable. She had been expecting him, and on crossing the threshold gave no sign of emotion save that she stopped short with a sudden stiffening of her entire frame. Charlot, who had run after her, threw himself among her skirts, astonished to see this man, whom he did not know.
There was a brief interval of silence, an embarrassment of a few seconds' duration.
'So that's the little one?' Goliath ended by asking in his conciliatory voice.
'Yes,' Silvine answered harshly.
The silence fell again. He had left Remilly prior to her accouchement, and, although he knew very well that there was a child, he now saw it for the first time. He therefore wished to explain his conduct, like a practical-minded man who is convinced that he has some good reasons to urge on his behalf. 'Come, Silvine,' said he, 'I can understand very well that you have harboured a grudge against me. And yet it's not altogether just. If I went off as I did, if I caused you all that grief, you ought to have bethought yourself that it was perhaps because I wasn't my own master. When a man has superiors and is under orders he must obey them, mustn't he? They might have ordered me on a journey a hundred leagues away on foot, and I should have gone. And naturally I couldn't speak out. It pained my heart, and no mistake, to have to go off like that without a parting word. I won't say that I was certain I should come back again; however, I always expected to do so, and you see, here I am——'