All in a
moment it came--and stayed; and he spoke to her, to Marcile, that very
night, and he spoke also to her father, Valloir the farrier, the next
morning by lamplight, before he started for the woods. He would not be
gainsaid, nor take no for an answer, nor accept, as a reason for refusal,
that she was only sixteen, and that he did not know her, for she had been
away with a childless aunt since she was three. That she had fourteen
brothers and sisters who had to be fed and cared for did not seem to
weigh with the farrier. That was an affair of le bon Dieu, and enough
would be provided for them all as heretofore--one could make little
difference; and though Jacques was a very good match, considering his
prospects and his favour with the lumber-king, Valloir had a kind of fear
of him, and could not easily promise his beloved Marcile, the flower of
his flock, to a man of whom the priest so strongly disapproved. But it
was a new sort of Jacques Grassette who, that morning, spoke to him with
the simplicity and eagerness of a child; and the suddenly conceived gift
of a pony stallion, which every man in the parish envied Jacques, won
Valloir over; and Jacques went "away back" with the first timid kiss of
Marcile Valloir burning on his cheek.
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