“Certainly we will. Come this way, captain.”
“The gentleman must be very hot! Will you take a little milk or some wine? M. Benassis, please try a little of the wine that my husband has been so kind as to buy for my confinement. You will tell me if it is good.”
“Yes, sir,” she turned and spoke in quiet tones, “I am very well off.”
“We will not take anything, Mme. Vigneau; I only came round this way to see that nothing troublesome had happened.”
“Nothing,” she said. “I was busy out in the garden, as you saw, turning the soil over for the sake of something to do.”
Then the two old mothers came out to speak to Benassis, and the young wagoner planted himself in the middle of the yard, in a spot from whence he could have a good view of the doctor.
“Let us see, let me have your hand,” said Benassis, addressing Mme. Vigneau; and as he carefully felt her pulse, he stood in silence, absorbed in thought. The three women, meanwhile, scrutinized the commandant with the undisguised curiosity that country people do not scruple to express.
“Nothing could be better!” cried the doctor cheerily.
“Will she be confined soon?” both the mothers asked together.
“This week beyond a doubt. Is Vigneau away from home?” he asked, after a pause.
“Yes, sir,” the young wife answered; “he is hurrying about settling his business affairs, so as to be able to stay at home during my confinement, the dear man!”
“Well, my children, go on and prosper; continue to increase your wealth and to add to your family.”
The cleanliness of the almost ruinous dwelling filled Genestas with admiration.
Benassis saw the officer’s astonishment, and said, “There is no one like Mme. Vigneau for keeping a house clean and tidy like this. I wish that several people in the town would come here to take a lesson.”
The tile-maker’s wife blushed and turned her head away; but the faces of the two old mothers beamed with pleasure at the doctor’s words, and the three women walked with them to the spot where the horses were waiting.
“Well, now,” the doctor said to the two old women, “here is happiness for you both! Were you not longing to be grandmothers?”
“Oh, do not talk about it,” said the young wife; “they will drive me crazy among them. My two mothers wish for a boy, and my husband would like to have a little girl. It will be very difficult to please them all, I think.”