"What will become of them without me?" "I can feel it in my breast." "It's like a stone inside." "Mouchette!" "Him again." "Get going, Arsene." "It's time." "Don't stay here." "Please go." "All right." "But come back." "Louisa." "Mr. Mathieu." "Warmth is what I need." "I can breathe easier." "Hope!" "Hope is dead" "Three days, Columbus said to them" "Pointing to the vast sky ahead" "That stretched beyond the horizon" "Three days and I'll give you a world" "To you who have no more hope" "Over the vast depths" "He opened wide his eyes" "Sing!" "Mouchette!" "Look." "You promised, Louisa." "I did?" "Then I misunderstood you." "I may have promised yesterday." "But now I wonder if I'll like you." "I'd like to make you happy..." "But you love someone else." "Answer me, Louisa!" " He's making a fool of you." " Who is?" "Arsene." " Of me?" " You, Mathieu." "I'll get him." "Arsene loves you, doesn't he?" "And you love him?" "Is that any business of yours?" "I warn you." "I'll have his hide." "You won't hurt him." "You don't scare him." "You're too afraid of him." "We'll see." "He'll spend the night outside." "He has his oilskin." "Arsene better watch himself." "Take it if you want." "Take it." "Don't think you're getting off lightly." "And since I have you here, stay away from Louisa." "Louisa?" "A funny gamekeeper you are." "Here's a piece of advice:" "Stay out of my way." "If you get me started " "What will you do?" "What're you doing here?" "I got lost." "Can't you use the road like your friends?" "If you go home without your clog, you'll get hell." "We're not staying." "But dry off first." "When did you get out of school?" "This'll warm you up." "At 6:00." "I left just before the others." "Alone?" "Nobody saw you?" "I don't think so." "And you cut through the woods." "Remember what I tell you." "You didn't use the woods." "You took the Linieres road." "You wanted to buy marbles." "Marbles?" "Or candy." "Whatever you like." "Buy?" "With what?" "Here's some money." "Say you found it." "At the crossroads, you saw me leave the bar." "I told you I was just back from checking some traps." "I have to mention traps?" "Even to the police?" "I'll go get your clog." "We never set foot in here." "Is that clear?" "Hold this." "No one'll be the wiser." "No trace of ashes." "Give me some light." "Listen to the cyclone." "I have an idea." "We'll manage without him." "There's wood and candles." "We'll keep a fire going." "We'll have a mountain of ashes by morning." "I'll say I spent all day and all night here." "Is that clear?" "Listen, child." "I've said too much or too little." "I have to go all the way." "Look me in the eyes." "Even stone drunk, I keep a clear head." "I think I killed a man." "Mathieu the gamekeeper." "How do you know?" "He had his oilskin with him." "I knew he'd sleep outdoors." "To get you, he said." "This time I got him." "We rolled in the stream." "The cap came off my canteen." "I offered him a sip, and we were pals again for a bit." "I don't know what got into him." "We were both drunk." "Don't worry." "This happens at times." "I go blank." "I can see myself holding a trap by its spring." "He pitched forward." "His legs were thrashing." "Furiously at first, then slower." "Then they stopped." "He was facedown in the water." "It turned red." "But when I went for your clog," "I heard shots and I thought, "He's alive, signaling for help."" "I recognized the sound of his 12-gauge shotgun." "If he's really not dead, why say I saw you at the bar?" "He'll talk." "Let him talk." "He'll say yes." "I'll say no." "It'll impress reporters." "If I can be of help, Mr. Arsene, you have to remember." "Remember!" "Remember..." "He was there, facedown in the water, his legs thrashing." "I'll say I was in the woods, that I saw you both." "He insulted and attacked you." "Listen, please." "Do I say he was drunk?" "You can count on me." "I hate them." "I'll stand up to them all." "Everything's getting hazy." "My neck hurts." "I feel a fit coming on." "Hope!" "Hope is dead" "Three days, Columbus said to them" "Pointing to the vast sky ahead" "That stretched beyond the horizon" "You're singing?" "I'll take you home." "Where are we really going?" "Where?" "Home." "And the gamekeeper?" "You killed him." "Killed him how?" "With my gun?" "With the trap." "You had the trap by the spring." "The trap?" "Let me out." "Let you out?" "Where will you go?" "Home." "Straight home, I swear." "I'll remember everything." "Just a second." "Mind your own business." "One word to anyone and I'll wring your neck." "I'd rather die than hurt you." "Why are you so afraid of hurting me?" "Mouchette." "Where have you been?" "Your father and brother have gone out." "Find some matches to warm the baby's milk." "There's a cloth on the line." "He can't stay wet all night." "If he does, he'll cry." "Why are you standing there?" "Stay here." "I can't blow out the lamp." "What time is it?" "I can't hear the church clock." "The wind shifted with the cyclone." "Where did you see a cyclone, you poor girl?" "It was a cyclone." "Wasn't it?" "Listen, Mama." "Let me have him." "Make him be quiet." "I can't stand it." "I can't breathe." "Get the gin by the cellar door." "It's hidden under the empty sacks." "If I die, I'll die without pain." "I made a mess." "Make sure you never get taken in by lazy workmen or drunks." "Mama, I have to tell you something." "Where you going?" "To get milk for the baby." "She was a brave woman." "Stop staring at me, you little hussy!" "Shit!" "Come have some coffee." "So your poor mother's passed on." "And so quickly." "Don't blame yourself." "It happens to us all." "At least the poor thing didn't feel it." "What's got into you?" "Little slut." "Rat-face." "What're you doing here?" "We have to talk." "Good thing you came by." "Sit down." "Arsene and I fought over a trap last night." "He was drunk." "But I was off duty, and it's nobody's business." "But he was arrested early this morning." "They say he was dynamiting the stream." "But he says he met you in the woods." "Is that true?" "Yes, it's true, sir." "Admit he came to see you for an alibi." "Why would you be here otherwise?" "I saw him last night in his cabin." "What were you doing there?" "I went there for shelter from the cyclone." "Cyclone?" "The rain." "Since when are you afraid you'll melt in the rain?" "Mr. Arsene took me there." "Where were you coming from?" "Don't lie." "From school." "You go to school at night now?" "It wasn't dark yet." "I took shelter in the woods." "Arsene told me " "What?" "He didn't have his wits about him." " He could walk straight." " Idiot!" "He never walks straighter than with gin in him." "He said you'd had a fight and that you were drunk too." "So you left school and went to his cabin." "The rain stopped at midnight." "Then you went home, I suppose?" "I got home at dawn." "I stayed almost all night." "You spent the night in Arsene's cabin?" "All night?" "Leave her alone." "I knew it." "Smell her breath." "The poor child still reeks of gin." "Arsene got her drunk, for sure." "When you came in, I could tell you didn't sleep at home." "Look at your hair." "And the liquor - your eyes are still hazy from it." "You told the truth, but not all of it." "Leave us alone, Mathieu." "Don't go, Mr. Mathieu." "Let her be." "You'll drive her crazy." "If you say so." "But it's maddening to see you spare him over a rabbit but not bother to check if he got her drunk or not." "Is that my business?" "It's for the police." "Her father can file a complaint." "You call that a father?" "Your mother just died." "I won't question you now." "But come by tomorrow." "I'll give you 10 francs." "You only have to answer if you feel like it." "Mr. Arsene's my lover." "Ask him." "He'll tell you." "What's wrong?" "Are you ill?" "I have to go home." "Your poor mother." "I bet she has no shroud." "Before Our Lord, they used fragrant herbs to embalm the dead." "Now they don't even wash them." "The priest says the dead are in heaven." "I won't argue, but I have my own ideas." "People used to worship the dead." "They were gods." "That must have been true religion." "Here are two or three dresses for you to wear." "I've known you a long time." "Remember the green apple I gave you?" "These should fit you." "I'll sit with your mother." "I'll take this sheet." "I love the dead." "I understand them." "At your age, they frightened me." "Now I talk to them, and they answer me with a murmur, a sigh." "And you, Mouchette, do you ever think about death?" "Are you asleep?" "Your heart's asleep." "Don't wake it too fast." "You have time enough." "You disgusting old thing." "I only want to help you." "You're being mean." "It's because you can't understand." "There's evil in your eyes."