"Nobody does nothing for nothing," said he.

"What horse do I shoe for this ?" "La, la!" said the charcoalman, sticking a thumb in the blacksmith's side; "you only give him the happy hand--like that!" Duclosse was more serious.

"It is the will of God that you become a marshal or a duke," he said wheezingly to the blacksmith.

"You can't say no; it is the will of God, and you must bear it like a man." The child saw further; perhaps the artistic strain in her gave her keener reasoning.
"Father," she said, "Monsieur Valmond wants you for a soldier." "Wants me ?" he roared in astonishment.

"Who's to shoe the horses a week days, and throw the weight o' Sundays after mass?
Who's to handle a stick for the Cure when there's fighting among the river-men?
"But there, la, la! many a time my wife, my good Florienne, said to me, 'Jose--Jose Lajeunesse, with a chest like yours, you ought to be a corporal at least.'" Parpon beckoned to Lagroin, and nodded.