The Collaborators 



is an undercurrent of chaff. What he fails to un- 

 derstand he turns into ridicule. And what can be 

 more ludicrous than a gentleman looking through a 

 glass at a Fly captured with a gauze net, or a bit 

 of rotten wood picked up from the ground ? Favier 

 cuts short the bantering catechism with a word.^ 



Favier has other qualities: he does not 

 hesitate in the face of difficulties, and it is 

 a point of honour with him to acquit him- 

 self manfully, however arduous the task. 



Favier is not content with faithfully exe- 

 cuting his master's orders. Like all intel- 

 ligent and devoted servants, he divines and 

 anticipates his desires. He has happy ideas 

 of initiative. 



On the 14th of April 1880, Favier was clearing 

 away a heap of mould resulting from the waste 

 weeds and leaves heaped up in a corner against 

 the enclosing wall. ... In the midst of his work 

 with spade and wheelbarrow, he suddenly called 

 me: 



" A find, sir, a splendid find ! Come and look ! " 

 I hurried up. There, indeed, was a splendid dis- 

 covery, and of a kind to fill me with delight, re- 

 awakening all my old memories of the Bois des 

 Issarts.^ 



^Souvenirs, ll., pp. i to 19. 

 2 Ibid.y p. 104. 



281 



