He took up his hammer, which he had laid down near him, and began with all his might to strike the nave of a wheel which he was binding with iron.
In the evening, as soon as he had returned home from the workshop, he ran to the wall and climbed upon it.

He found Miette engaged upon the same labour as the day before.

He called her.

She came to him, with her smile of embarrassment, and the charming shyness of a child who from infancy had grown up in tears.
"You're La Chantegreil, aren't you ?" he asked her, abruptly.
She recoiled, she ceased smiling, and her eyes turned sternly black, gleaming with defiance.

So this lad was going to insult her, like the others! She was turning her back upon him, without giving an answer, when Silvere, perplexed by her sudden change of countenance, hastened to add: "Stay, I beg you--I don't want to pain you--I've got so many things to tell you!" She turned round, still distrustful.