“W’at’s his name?”
“André Pascal.”
The name meant nothing to Telèsphore. For all he knew, André Pascal might be one of the shining lights of Avoyelles, but he doubted it.
“You betta turn ‘roun’,” he said. It was an unselfish impulse that prompted the suggestion. It was the thought of this girl married to a man whom even Jules Trodon would not suffer to enter his house.
“I done give my word,” she answered.
“W’at’s the matta with ‘im? W’y don’t yo’ father and mother want you to marry ‘im?”
“W’y? Because it’s always the same tune! W’en a man’s down eve’ybody’s got stones to throw at ‘im. They say he’s lazy. A man that will walk from St. Landry plumb to Rapides lookin’ fo’ work; an’ they call that lazy! Then, somebody’s been spreadin’ yonda on the Bayou that he drinks. I don’ b’lieve it.
