Volume VIII Part 6 (1/2)
No one could talk; they had tooto say Mave an account of the fishi+ng excursion, and sang the praises of the _Pearl_ and of Main and again
Roland, leaning against the , with his hands in his pockets and his lips puckered for a whistle, could not keep still, tortured by the invincible desire to give vent to his delight The two brothers, in two armchairs that matched, one on each side of the center-table, stared in front of them, in similar attitudes full of dissimilar expression
At last the tea appeared The lawyer took a cup, sugared it, and drank it, after having crumbled into it a little cake which was too hard to crunch Then he rose, shook hands, and departed
”Then it is understood,” repeated Roland ”To-morrow, at your place, at two?”
”Quite so To-morrow, at two”
Jean had not spoken a word
When their guest had gone, silence fell again till father Roland clapped his two hands on his younger son's shoulders, crying:
”Well, you devilish lucky dog! You don't embrace :
”It had not struck me as indispensable”
The old lee He walked about the room, strummed on the furniture with his clu:
”What luck! what luck! Now, that is really what I call luck!”
Pierre asked:
”Then you used to know this Marechal well?”
And his father replied:
”I believe you! Why, he used to spend every evening at our house
Surely you remember he used to fetch you froain after dinner Why, the very day when Jean was born it was he ent for the doctor He had been breakfasting with us when your mother was taken ill Of course we knew at once what it meant, and he set off post-haste In his hurry he took ood laugh over it afterward It is very likely that he , and as he had no heir hethat youngster into the world, so I will leave his'”
Mme Roland, sunk in a deep chair, seeh she were thinking aloud:
”Ah, he was a good friend, very devoted, very faithful, a rare soul in these days”
Jean got up
”I shall go out for a little walk,” he said
His father was surprised and tried to keep him; they had much to talk about, plans to bee before he came into possession of his inheritance So he went away, for he wished to be alone to reflect
Pierre, on his part, said that he too was going out, and after a few minutes followed his brother
As soon as he was alone with his wife, father Roland took her in his ar to a reproach she had often brought against him, said: