"That is just what disturbs me," said Germain. "Suppose she should hate the poor little ones, and they should be maltreated and beaten?"
"God forbid!" said the old man. "But evil-minded women are rarer in these parts than good ones, and a man must be a fool not to be able to put his hand on the one that suits him."
"True, father: there are some good girls in our village. There's Louise and Sylvaine and Claudie and Marguerite--any one you please, in fact."
"Softly, softly, my boy, all those girls are too young or too poor--or too pretty; for we must think of that, too, my son. A pretty woman isn't always as steady as a plainer one."
"Do you want me to take an ugly one, pray?" said Germain, a little disturbed.
"No, not ugly, for you will have other children by her, and there's nothing so sad as to have ugly, puny, unhealthy children. But a woman still in her prime, in good health and neither ugly nor pretty, would do your business nicely."
"It is easy to see," said Germain, smiling rather sadly, "that to get such a one as you want we must have her made to order; especially as you don't want her to be poor, and rich wives aren't easy to get, especially for a widower."
"Suppose she was a widow herself, Germain? what do you say to a widow without children, and a snug little property?"
"I don't know of any just now in our parish."
"You have some one in view, father; so tell me at once who it is."
"Yes, I have some one in view," replied Père Maurice. "It's one Léonard, widow of one Guérin, who lives at Fourche."
"I don't know the woman or the place," replied Germain, resigned, but becoming more and more depressed.
"Her name is Catherine, like your deceased wife's."
"Catherine? Yes, I shall enjoy having to say that name: Catherine! And yet, if I can't love her as well as I loved the other, it will cause me more pain than pleasure, for it will remind me of her too often."
"I tell you that you will love her: she's a good creature, a woman with a big heart; I haven't seen her for a long time, she wasn't a bad-looking girl then; but she is no longer young, she is thirty-two. She belongs to a good family, all fine people, and she has eight or ten thousand francs in land which she would be glad to sell, and buy other land where she goes to live; for she, too, is thinking of marrying again, and I know that, if her disposition should suit you, she wouldn't think you a bad match."
