She had raised her eyes to examine him, surprised that any one could come from so far off.
"After Solferino," continued he, "eighteen months since, I came back from Italy with my discharge, and a fellow-soldier brought me here. Then, d'ye see, my old trade of carpenter no longer suited me, and, what with one thing and another, I stopped at the farm."
"Ah!" said she, simply, without taking her big, black eyes off him, "it's curious, all the same."
At that moment, as La Coliche gave a prolonged, despairing low of desire, a hoarse murmur came from the cow-house, the door of which was shut.
"Hullo!" cried Jean, "that brute of a Cæsar has heard her. Hark! he's talking inside there. Oh, he knows his business. You can't bring one of 'em into the yard but he smells her out, and knows what he's wanted for."
Then, breaking off:
"I say, the neatherd must have stopped with Monsieur Hourdequin. If thee liked, I would bring thee the bull, and thee needn't come back again. We could manage it all right by ourselves."
"Not half a bad idea," said Françoise, getting up.
As he opened the door of the cow-house, he paused to ask:
"Must thy animal be tied up?"