THE DEVIL'S POOL
well. Then you will be surrounded by strangers who may not be kind to you and will not know how much you are worth. It makes me more sorry than I can tell you, and I have a great desire to take you home to your mother instead of going on to Fourche."
"You talk very kindly, but there is no reason for your misgivings, my poor Germain. You ought not to lose heart on your friend's account, and instead of showing me the dark side of my lot, you should show me the bright side, as you did after lunch at Rebec's."
"What can I do? That 's the way it appeared to me then, and now my ideas are changed. It is best for you to take a husband."
"That cannot be, Germain, and as it is out of the question, I think no more about it."
"Yet such a thing might happen. Perhaps if you told me what kind of a man you want, I might imagine somebody."
"Imagining is not finding. For myself, I never imagine, for it does no good."
"You are not looking for a rich man?"
"Certainly not, for I am as poor as Job."
"But if he were comfortably off, you would n't
86
