NEW SHOES
A dozen times during the day she had asked herself how she could
possibly sleep in that room where she had been almost suffocated. She
was sure that she would not be able to sleep any better that night, or
the next, or the next.
And if she could not find rest after a hard day's work, whatever would
happen to her?
In her little mind she weighed all the consequences of this terrible
question. If she had not the strength to do her work she would be sent
away from the factory, and that would be the end of all her hopes. She
would be ill and there would be no one to help her, and she would have
to lie down at the foot of a tree and die.
It is true that unless she wished she was not obliged to occupy the bed
that she had paid for, but where would she find another, and what would
she say to Rosalie? How could she say in a nice way that what was good
for others was not good for her, and when they knew how disgusted she
had been, how would they treat her? She might create such ill feeling
that she would be forced to leave the factory.
The day had passed without her having come to a decision.
But now that Rosalie had hurt her hand the situation was changed. Poor
Rosalie would probably have to stay in bed for several days, and she
would not know what happened in the house at the end of the yard. She
would not know who slept in the room or who did not; consequently she
need fear no questions. And, on the other hand, as none of the girls in
the room knew who the new lodger for the night had been, neither would
they bother about her; it might very well be someone who had decided to
find a lodging elsewhere.
Reasoning thus, she decided quickly that she would go and sleep in her
new little home. How good it would be to sleep there--nothing to fear
from anyone, a roof to cover her head, without counting the enjoyment of
living in a house of one's own.
The matter was quite decided, and after having been to the baker's to
buy another half a pound of bread for her supper, instead of returning
to Mother Francoise's she again took the road that she had taken early
that morning.
She slipped behind the hedge as the factory hands who lived outside
Maraucourt came tramping along the road on their way home. She did not
wish to be seen by them. While she waited for them to pass she gathered
a quantity of rushes and ferns and made a broom. Her new home was clean
and comfortable, but with a little attention it could be made more so,
and she would pick a lot of dried ferns and make a good soft bed to lie
upon.
Forgetting her fatigue, she quickly tied the broom together with some
wisps of straw and fastened it to a stick. No less quickly a bunch of
ferns was arranged in a mass so that she could easily carry them to her
hut.
The road was now deserted as far as she could see. Hoisting the bed of
ferns on her back and taking the broom in her hands, she ran down the
hill and across the road. When she came to the narrow path she had to
slacken her speed, for the ferns caught in the branches and she could
not pass without going down on her knees.
Upon arriving at the island, she began at once to do her housework. She
threw away the old ferns, then commenced to sweep everywhere, the roof,
the walls and the ground.
As she looked out over the pond and saw the reeds growing thickly, a
bright idea came to her. She needed some shoes. One does not go about a
deserted island in leather shoes. She knew how to plait, and she would
make a pair of soles with the reeds and get a little canvas for the tops
and tie them on with ribbon.
As soon as she had finished her sweeping she ran out to the pond and
picked a quantity of the most flexible reeds and carried them back to
the door of her hut and commenced to work. But after she had made a
plait of reeds about a yard long she found that this sole that she was
making would be too light; because it was too hollow, there would be no
solidity, and that before plaiting the reeds they would have to undergo
a preparation which in crushing the fibres would transform them into
coarse strings.
However, this did not stop her. Now she needed a hammer, of course she
could not find one, but what she did find was a big round stone, which
served her purpose very well indeed. Then she commenced to beat the
reeds. Night came on while she was still at work, and she went to sleep
dreaming of the beautiful sandals tied with blue ribbons which she would
have, for she did not doubt but that she would succeed with what she had
undertaken ... if not the first time, well, then the second or the third
... or the tenth.
By the next evening she had plaited enough to begin the soles, and the
following day, having bought a curved awl for the price of one sou, some
thread for one sou, a piece of ribbon for the same price, a small piece
of rough canvas for four sous, in all seven sous, which was all that she
could spend if she did not wish to go without bread on the Saturday, she
tried to make a sole like those worn on shoes. The first one that she
made was almost round. This was not exactly the shape of the foot. The
second one, to which she gave much more attention, seemed to resemble
nothing at all; the third was a little better, but finally the fourth,
which, with some practice, she had managed to tighten in the center and
draw in at the heel, could pass for a sole.
Once more she had proved that with a little perseverance, a little will,
one can do what one wants, even if at first it seems impossible. And she
had done this with scarcely anything, a few sous, with no tools, with
hardly anything at her command. She was really very happy and she
considered that her work was very successful.
Now what she needed most to finish her sandals were scissors. They would
cost so much to buy she would have to manage without them. Fortunately
she had her knife, and with the help of a stone to sharpen the point she
could make it fine enough to trim the canvas.
But the cutting of the pieces of canvas she found quite a difficult
matter. Finally she accomplished it, and on the following Saturday
morning she had the satisfaction of going forth shod in a nice pair of
gray canvas shoes, tied with blue ribbons crossed over her stockings.
While she had been working on her shoes (the work had taken four
evenings and three mornings beginning at the break of day), she had
wondered what she should do with her leather shoes while she was away
from the hut. She had no fear that they would be stolen by anyone, for
no one came to the place, but then the rats might eat them. So as to
prevent this she would put them in a place where the rats could not get
at them.
This was a rather difficult matter, for the rats seemed to be
everywhere. She had no closet, no box to put them away in. Finally she
tied them to the roof with some wisps of straw.