"I don't criticise, Brulette; I question you because I like Joseph very much, and I esteem you enough to believe you will deal frankly with him." "That is my affair, Maître Huriel; you are not the judge of my feelings, and I am not obliged to explain them. I don't ask you, for instance, if you are faithful to your wife." "My wife!" exclaimed Huriel, as if astonished. "Why, yes," returned Brulette, "are not you married?" "Did I say I was?" "I thought you said so at our house last night, when my grandfather, thinking you came to talk of marriage, made haste to refuse you." "I said nothing at all, Brulette, except that I was not seeking marriage. Before obtaining the person, one must win the heart, and I have no claim to yours." "At any rate," said Brulette, "I see you are more reasonable and less bold than you were last year." "Oh!" returned Huriel, "If I said a few rather warm words to you at the village dance, it was because they popped into my head at the sight of you; but time has passed, and you ought to forget the affront." "Who said I recollected it?" demanded Brulette. "Have I reproached you?" "You blame me in your heart; or at any rate you bear the thing in mind, for you are not willing to speak frankly to me about Joseph." "I thought," said Brulette, whose voice showed signs of impatience, "that I had fully explained myself on that point night before last. But how do the two things affect each other? The more I forget you, the less I should wish to explain to you my feelings for any man, no matter who." "But the fact is, pretty one," said the muleteer, who seemed not to give in to any of Brulette's little ways, "You spoke about the past last night, and said nothing about the future; and I don't yet know what you mean to say to Joseph to reconcile him with life. Why do you object to tell me frankly?" "What is it to you, I should like to know? If you are married, or merely pledged, you ought not to be looking into a girl's heart." "Brulette, you are trying to make me say that I am free to court you, and yet you won't tell me anything about your own position; I am not to know whether you mean some day to favor Joseph, or whether you are pledged to some one else,--perhaps that tall fellow who is lying asleep on your apron." "You are too inquisitive!" exclaimed Brulette, rising and hastily twitching away the apron, which I was forced to let go, pretending to wake at that moment. "Come, let us start," said Huriel, who seemed not to care for Brulette's ill-humor, but continued to smile with his white teeth and his large eyes,--the only parts of his face which were not in mourning. We continued our route to the Bourbonnais. The sun was hidden behind a heavy cloud and thunder was rumbling in the distance.