“And he shall be given back to you safe and sound. Now, Monsieur Alexandre, gather up your traps, and let us be off; your mother has given her permission.”
“You are not taking him away this evening, Mocquet.”
“I must, Madame, to-morrow morning will be too late to fetch him; we must hunt the wolf at dawn.”
“The wolf! it is for a wolf-hunt that you are asking for him to go with you?”
“Are you afraid that the wolf will eat him?”
“Mocquet! Mocquet!”
“But when I tell you that I will be answerable for everything!”
“And where will the poor child sleep?”
“With father Mocquet, of course, he will have a good mattress laid on the floor, and sheets white as those which God has spread over the fields, and two good warm coverlids; I promise you that he shall not catch cold.”
“I shall be all right, mother, you may be sure! Now then, Mocquet, I am ready.”