"True, my dear, true. There is nothing like work for giving rosy cheeks and shining eyes."
Jeanne was about to reply when the door opened, and Catherine Lefevre advanced into the room. She cast an anxious glance on Hullin, as if to divine beforehand the news he was bringing.
"Well, Jean-Claude, you have returned."
"Yes, Catherine, and with good and ill tidings."
"Let us have them!" exclaimed she, presenting a seat to the sabot-maker, as he deposited his roll upon the table.
"Well, the news from Gaspard is good; the boy is well, although he has had a hard time of it; so much the better—hardship strengthens youth. But the war goes badly, badly!"
He shook his head as he spoke, and the old woman, seating herself in her arm-chair directly in front of him, fixed her eyes upon his.
"Then the allies are in France; the war is to be brought home to us?"
"Yes, Catherine; we may any day expect to see the enemy in our mountains."
"I feared it—I was sure of it—but go on, Jean-Claude."