Page:Colas breugnon.djvu/142

 After a pause I said, "I hope at least that you get on pretty well with him?"

"About as well as he does with me," she answered, with a shrug of her shoulders.

I could not help saying, "Your home must be Paradise."

"You've hit the mark," said she, laughing.

After that we changed the conversation, and talked of everything on earth; farms, cattle, and children, but try as we would, we could not keep away from the old subject. I thought perhaps that it would interest her to hear all about me and mine; but I soon found that she was too much of a woman not to have known long ago all that I could tell her; so we went on from one thing to another, up and down, in and out, just for the sake of talking. We were both great at puns, and jokes of that kind; and it would have taken your breath away to hear the cross fire of wit between us; and quick!—we fairly snatched the words out of each other's mouths, and laughed till the tears ran down our cheeks.

All at once six strokes sounded from the clock in the corner. "Six already!" said I; "it is time that I was going."

"Plenty of time," said she. "I suppose your husband will be here in a few