“Yes, sir,” continued the wife, “he carried me off, ordered leather straps, made me buy the wheels, harnessed me; we were all astonishment, James and I; but stop, if you can, when Mr. Desgranges drives you.  At the end of three days, here we are with the cask, he harnessed and drawing it, I behind, pushing; we were ashamed at crossing the village, as if we were doing something wrong; it seemed as if everybody would laugh at us.  But Mr. Desgranges was there in the street.

“‘Come on, James,’ said he, ‘courage.’

“We came along, and in the evening he put into our hands a piece of money, saying,” continued the blind man, with emotion—­

“‘James, here are twenty sous you have earned to-day.’

“Earned, sir, think of that! earned, it was fifteen months that I had only eaten what had been given to me.  It is good to receive from good people, it is true; but the bread that one earns, it is as we say, half corn, half barley; it nourishes better, and then it was done, I was no longer the woman, I was a labourer—­a labourer—­James earned his living.”

A sort of pride shone from his face.

“How!” said the young man, “was your cask sufficient to support you?”

“Not alone, sir; but I have still another profession.”

“Another profession!”

“Ha, ha, yes, sir; the river always runs, except when it is frozen, and, as Mr. Desgranges says, ’water-carriers do not make their fortune with ice,’ so he gave me a Winter trade and Summer trade.”

“Winter trade!”

Mr. Desgranges returned at this moment—­James heard him—­“Is it not true, Mr. Desgranges, that I have another trade besides that of water-carrier?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“What is it then?”

“Wood-sawyer.”

“Wood-sawyer? impossible; how could you measure the length of the sticks? how could you cut wood without cutting yourself?”

“Cut myself, sir,” replied the blind man, with a pleasant shade of confidence; “I formerly was a woodsawyer, and the saw knows me well; and then one learns everything—­I go to school, indeed.  They put a pile of wood at my left side, my saw and saw horse before me, a stick that is to be sawed in three; I take a thread, I cut it the size of the third of the stick—­this is the measure.  Every place I saw, I try it, and so it goes on till now there is nothing burned or drunk in the village without calling upon me.”

“Without mentioning,” added Mr. Desgranges, “that he is a commissioner.”

“A commissioner!” said the young man, still more surprised.

“Yes, sir, when there is an errand to be done at Melun, I put my little girl on my back, and then off I go.  She sees for me, I walk for her; those who meet me, say, ’Here is a gentleman who carries his eyes very high;’ to which I answer, ’that is so I may see the farther.’  And then at night I have twenty sous more to bring home.”

“But are you not afraid of stumbling against the stones?”