And she triumphed more than ever on hearing him promise that the
threshing-machine should be ready before the end of that same week.
"You must take a cup of tea, my dear," she exclaimed. "It would do you
good; you worry your mind too much."
Maurice accepted the offer, and gayly replied: "Oh! do you know, an
omnibus almost crushed me just now in the Rue de Rivoli!"
At this his mother turned livid, and the cup which she held escaped from
her hand. Ah! God, was her happiness at the mercy of an accident? Then
once again the fearful threat sped by, that icy gust which came she knew
not whence, but which ever chilled her to her bones.
"Why, you stupid," said Beauchene, laughing, "it was he who crushed the
omnibus, since here he is, telling you the tale. Ah! my poor Maurice,
your mother is really ridiculous. I know how strong you are, and I'm
quite at ease about you."
That day Madame Angelin returned to Janville with Mathieu. They found
themselves alone in the railway carriage, and all at once, without any
apparent cause, tears started from the young woman's eyes. At this she
apologized, and murmured as if in a dream: "To have a child, to rear him,
and then lose him--ah! certainly one's grief must then be poignant.
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