Some forty yards away Auguste saw a peasant plying the spade. He dropped the child's hand and walked toward the peasant, who kept at his work, bent double over the ground. "Père Calleux, I have come to make amends for a slight accident," said Auguste, raising his voice. The peasant raised his head and displayed a face covered with blotches, a huge nose, great eyes level with the face, a half-open mouth, and teeth that recalled those of Little Red Riding Hood's enemy. That extraordinary countenance expressed profound amazement at hearing a fashionably-dressed gentleman call him by name. "I imagine that Père Calleux is as fond of wine as of cabbage soup," said Auguste to himself as he scrutinized the peasant. "What can I do for you, monsieur?" asked the latter. "I met your son Coco on the road----" "Ah! where is he, I'd like to know? He was going to bring me my dinner.--Coco! what are you doing there?" "Wait until I tell you the whole story; as I was looking at a fine view, I ran into the child, and I knocked the bowl he was carrying out of his hands; it broke, and----" "You'll pay for it, that's all; for you're to blame for my having no dinner." "Oh! that's but fair; that's why I came to speak to you. How much do I owe you? Name the price." "Well, monsieur, it was a good soup-bowl; it was worth all of thirty sous; and there was twelve sous' worth of soup in it; for pork's dear round here----" "See, here's five francs; are you satisfied?" "Oh, yes! monsieur; that's fair enough; I haven't got anything to say." "Then I hope that you won't scold your son; and, if you take my advice you won't make a child of that age carry such heavy loads any more." "Oh! monsieur, it gets them used to being strong. We poor folks can't bring children up on lollipops.--Well, Coco, come here." The child approached timidly, and, when he reached his father's side, began to whimper again, saying: "I broke the bowl." "Yes, yes, I know what happened; monsieur told me all about it. Go back to the house now, and tell Mère Madeleine to get me some dinner, and to be sure to have some wine. But no, I'd rather go to dinner at Claude's cabaret. Go home, Coco, and don't wait supper for me; I've got business in the town." Auguste guessed that Père Calleux's business consisted in drinking up the five-franc piece to the last sou; but, satisfied to see that his young protégé was in high spirits, he bade the peasant adieu, and followed the child, who retraced the steps they had just taken; but this time he leaped and gambolled about his companion. His great grief was forgotten already! And they say that we are great children: it is true as concerns our foibles, but not as concerns happiness.