The coffee was ready. They drank it seated together on the folding bed as they
munched their pieces of the cake. Then Daru led the Arab under the shed and showed
him the faucet where he washed. He went back into the room, folded the blankets and the
bed, made his own bed and put the room in order. Then he went through the classroom
and out onto the terrace. The sun was already rising in the blue sky; a soft, bright light
was bathing the deserted plateau. On the ridge the snow was melting in spots. Ttlc stones
were about to reappear. Crouched on the edge of the plateau, the schoolmaster looked at
the deserted expanse. He thought of Balducci. He had hurt him, for he had sent him off in
a way as if he didn't want to bc associated with him. He could still hear the gendarme's
farewell and, without knowing why, he felt strangely empty and vulnerable. At that
moment, from the other side of the schoolhouse, the prisoner coughed. Daru listened to
him almost despite himself and then furious, threw a pebble that whistled through the air
before sinking into the snow. That man's stupid crime revolted him, but to hand him over
was contrary to honor. Merely thinking of it made him smart with humiliation. And he
cursed at one and the same time his own people who had sent him this Arab and the Arab
too who had dared to kill and not managed to get away. Dary got up, walked in a circle
on the terrace, waited motionless, and then went back into the schoolhouse.