It was a source of vexation to Landolin that the people of rank of the
Casino did not notice him; and as their wagon went slowly up the hill,
he said to his wife, with unaccustomed tenderness:
"We'll not concern ourselves at all about the world, but be happy in
having each other and being together again. Nobody cares for a man as
his own family does."
His wife looked at him in astonishment, and her careworn face shone in
the clear moonlight. She was not used to such affection from Landolin,
and she had never known that he felt any need of sympathy.
"Is Thoma ill?" he asked, after a little while.
"No, only frightened, and angry about Anton. She goes around for days
without speaking a word; but she works busily, and eats and drinks as
usual. To be sure, she doesn't sleep as she should. I made her sleep
with me; but she would not lie in your bed, and I had to give her
mine."
"Everything will come around all right now," said Landolin. For his
part, he thought it strange that his wife, contrary to her usual habit,
had so much to say; but he wanted to hear more, so he asked:
"Has the prize cow a bull calf?"
"Yes; coal black, with a white star on its forehead, and stout hoofs.
Didn't Peter tell you that we were going to raise it?"
As for Peter, who sat on the front seat driving, his sides shook. He
was evidently laughing.
Landolin, who had striven against the temptation, at last yielded, and
asked:
"How does Cushion-Kate get along?"
His wife did not answer, and Landolin repeated impatiently, "Don't you
hear me? Didn't you hear what I said? I asked how Cushion-Kate was
getting along."
"Don't scream so! You have changed very much."
"It's you, not I, that have changed. Why don't you give me an answer?"
"Because I have none to give. Last night Cushion-Kate was not at home.
Early this morning she came back, and lit a fire for the first time in
many days. She must have been at the grave yesterday, for the pastor
found her red kerchief there, and sent it to her. Since then she has
disappeared again; and her goat cries terribly, for it has had no
fodder. The poor animal----"
"What do I care for the goat! I don't know how it is--either everybody
is crazy or I am crazy myself. Is this my forest? Are those my fields?
To whom do these horses and this wagon belong? Say, am I crazy?"
"If you go on in this way, you'll make both me and yourself so. For
God's sake, don't torment us both! What do you want with Cushion-Kate
just now?"
His wife had scarcely uttered these words, when Cushion-Kate rushed out
of the forest, and grasped the horse's reins.
"Let go!" cried Peter. "Let go! or I'll drive over you."
"Hold still!" said Landolin. "Kate! I mean well by you."
"But I don't mean well by you. They didn't cut off your head. They
didn't hang you. You shall hang yourself. There is your forest, with
thousands and thousands of trees. They all wait for you to hang
yourself on them."
"Oh, Kate! come here to me," besought his wife. But Kate continued to
pour terrible execrations.
"Give her a cut with the whip," cried Landolin; "give it to me; I'll
strike her."
"No, father, I'll fix it," said Peter; and springing down quickly, he
pushed Kate to one side; then, mounting again, he drove rapidly up the
hill.
Landolin's wife looked back, and drawing a long breath, said: "Thank
God! she has sat down on those stones. Some one has come up the hill,
and is speaking to her."