Mathurin alone, dragging himself to the table, ladled out a plate of soup; while his father remained sitting beside the fire, and Driot stood leaning against the projecting chimney-corner, looking alternately at his father and brother.
"Where did you go?" asked the farmer.
André made a sweeping gesture:
"From one to the other. To your friend Guerineau, of La Pinçonnière; to the miller of Moque-Souris; the Levrelles; the Massonneau...."
"A good fellow, le Glorieux," interrupted the farmer; "worthy family his."
"I saw the Ricolleaus of Malabrit too."
"What, you went as far as that?"
"The Ertus of La Parée du Mont——"
Toussaint Lumineau looked straight into his son's clear eyes, trying to understand.
"What led you to go and see all these people, my boy?"