"Bah! What's the use of it?" "To pass away time." "Well, let's have your castle in the air." "Well, then, only imagine that a lucky chance, such as sometimes occurs, brings you in contact with a person who says, 'Forsaken by your father and mother, your infancy was surrounded by such bad examples that you must be pitied, as much as blamed, for having become--'" "Become what?" "What you and I have become," replied Goualeuse, in a soft voice; and then she continued, "Suppose, then, that this person were to say to you, 'You love Martial; he loves you. Do you and he cease to lead an improper life,--instead of being his mistress, become his wife.'" La Louve shrugged her shoulders. "Do you think he would have me for his wife?" "Except poaching, he has never committed any guilty act, has he?" "No; he is a poacher in the river, as he was in the woods, and he is right. Why, now, ain't fish like game, for those to have who can catch them? Where do they bear the proprietor's mark?" "Well, suppose that, having given up the dangerous trade of marauding on the river, he desires to become an honest man; suppose he inspires, by the frankness of his good resolutions, so much confidence in an unknown benefactor that he gives him a situation,--let us see, our castle is in the air,--gives him a situation--say as gamekeeper, for instance. Why, I should suppose that, as he had been a poacher, nothing could better suit his taste; it is the same occupation, but in the right way." "Yes, _ma foi!_ it would be still to live in the woods." "Only he would not have the situation but on condition that he would marry you, and take you with him." "I go with Martial?" "Yes; why, you said you should be so happy to live together in the depths of the forest. Shouldn't you prefer, instead of the miserable hut of the poacher, in which you would hide like guilty creatures, to have a neat little cottage, which you would take care of as the active and hard-working housekeeper?" "You are making game of me. Can this be possible?" "Who knows what may happen? But it's only a castle in the air." "Ah, if it's only that, all very well!" "La Louve, I think that I already see you established in your little home in the depths of the forest, with your husband and two or three children. Children,--what happiness! Are they not?" "The children of my man!" exclaimed La Louve, with intense eagerness. "Ah, yes! They would be dearly loved,--they would!" "How they would keep you company in your solitude! And, then, when they grew up they would be able to render you great service: the youngest would pick up the dead branches for fuel; the eldest would go into the grass of the forest to watch a cow or two, which they would give you as a reward for your husband's activity, for as he had been a poacher he would make a better keeper." "To be sure; that's true enough. But really your castles in the air are very amusing. Go on, Goualeuse."