"But we were talking of the necklaces and of the ring which Lucien
had taken. . . . He told his secret to nobody, but kept them ever in
his trousers' pocket. Only, when he could escape away from his
comrades to some corner of the shore, he would draw the gems forth
and feast his eyes on them. I believe it weighed on him very little
that he had committed a crime or a sin. Longshore folk have great
ease of conscience respecting all property cast up to them by the
sea. They regard all such as their rightful harvest: the feeling is
in their blood, and I have many times argued in vain against it.
Once while I argued, here in Ile Lezan, an old man asked me, 'But,
Father, if it were not for such chances, why should any man choose to
dwell by the sea?' If, monsieur, you lived among them and knew their
hardships, you would see some rude sense in that question.
"To Lucien, feasting his eyes by stealth on the diamonds and counting
the days to his relief, the stones meant that Jeanne and happiness
were now close within his grasp. There would be difficulty, to be
sure, in disposing of them; but with Jeanne's advice--she had a
practical mind--and perhaps with Jeanne's help, the way would not be
hard to find.
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