The Earth by Émile Zola

Author:Émile Zola [Zola, Émile]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141933207
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2009-03-24T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

FOR the last two days Jean had been working in the fields Hourdequin owned close to Rognes, where the farmer had set up a steam threshing machine, hired from a mechanic from Châteaudun who took it round the villages between Bonneval and Cloyes. The young man fetched the sheaves from the near-by stacks with his cart and two horses and then carried the grain away to the farm; while the machine puffed and blew from morning till night, sending up a golden cloud of dust in the sunlight and filling the surrounding countryside with its incessant loud rumble.

Sick at heart, Jean was racking his brains to see how he could have Françoise again. A month had already gone by since he had held her in his arms, at the very spot where he was threshing the wheat, and now she was scared and avoiding him. He despaired of ever having her again and his lust was growing into an obsession. As he drove his horses, he would ask himself why he shouldn't just go to the Buteaus and ask for her hand in marriage. As yet there had been no open or definitive quarrel between them. He always called out a greeting to them when he went by. And once the idea had entered his head that marriage was the only way of possessing her again, he soon persuaded himself that it was his duty and it would be wrong of him not to marry her.

All the same, when Jean went back to his machine the following morning, he felt apprehensive. He would never have dared make the approach had he not seen Buteau and Françoise going off to work in the fields together. He thought that as Lise had always been friendly disposed towards him, he would be less scared of her, so he handed his horses over to a friend and slipped away.

‘Hallo, Jean, so it's you,’ Lise cried cheerfully, now thoroughly recovered from the birth of her daughter. ‘We haven't seen you for ages. What's up?’

He apologized and then, with the abruptness often found in shy people, he explained the purpose of his visit. At first she might have imagined that it was herself he was making advances to, because he reminded her that he had been in love with her and would have been happy to marry her. Then he added quickly:

‘And that's why I'd be happy to marry Françoise, if anyone asked me to.’

She looked at him in such surprise that he faltered:

‘Oh, I know that's not the way to do it… I just wanted to tell you.’

‘Well, I never!’ she said in the end… ‘I'm surprised because I didn't really expect it, seeing the difference in age… But first of all we must find out what Françoise thinks about it all.’

He had gone along with the intention of admitting everything, so that he would be forced to marry Françoise. But at the last moment, he had qualms. If Françoise hadn't confessed to her

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