Emile set to work; he took the little German clock apart, and, having examined it, found nothing more to do than remove a little dust from the interior. Leaning over the table near Gilberte he carefully cleaned and readjusted the rough machinery, exchanging with the two women an occasional remark of a playful turn, which led to a pleasant sort of familiarity between them. It is commonly said that people become expansive and confidential while eating together; but intimacy comes more readily and naturally to those who work together. All three of them felt it; and when they had finished their various tasks they were almost members of the same family. "You're right at home at that business," said Janille, when she saw that her clock was going; "you would almost do for a clockmaker. Now let's go for a walk; I will go first and light my lantern to take you into the cellars." "Monsieur," said Gilberte, when Janille had left the room, "you said just now that you expected to dine with Monsieur de Boisguilbault. May I not ask you what sort of impression that gentleman made upon you?" "I should have difficulty in defining it," replied Emile. "It is a mixture of repulsion and sympathy, so strange that I feel that I must see him again, examine him closely and then reflect further, before attempting to interpret so odd a character. Don't you know him, mademoiselle, and can you not assist me to understand him?" "I do not know him at all; I have seen him only once or twice in my life, although we live very near him; and, because of what I had heard about him, I was very anxious to see him; but he was riding on the same road with my father and myself, and the instant that he caught sight of us, he spurred his horse, bowed to us without looking at us, apparently without knowing who we were, and was out of sight in a moment: you would have said he was trying to hide in the dust that his horse's feet kicked up." "Has Monsieur de Châteaubrun no relations with him, although he is so near a neighbor?"