‘What treasures you’re bringing home!’ said Rudy’s old foster-mother, and her strange eagle eyes flashed, and she moved her scraggy neck more quickly than ever in peculiar twists and turns. ‘You’ve got good fortune on your side, Rudy. I must kiss you, my sweet boy!’
And Rudy let himself be kissed, but it was clear from his face that he was submitting to circumstances, domestic life’s little trials! ‘How good-looking you are!’ said the old woman.
‘Don’t get me believing that!’ said Rudy, laughing, but pleased nonetheless.
‘I’ll say it again,’ said the old woman, ‘you’ve got good fortune on your side!’
‘Well, I agree with you there!’ he said, and thought of Babette.
Never before had he longed as much as now for the deep valley.
‘They must have arrived home!’ he said to himself, ‘it’s already two days later than when they intended to be back. I must go to Bex.’
And Rudy went to Bex, and the miller and his daughter were at home. They made him very welcome, and he was given warm regards from the family in Interlaken. Babette didn’t talk much, she had become quite tongue-tied, but her eyes spoke, and that was perfectly sufficient for Rudy. The miller, who normally liked to do the talking – he was accustomed to people laughing at all his quips and puns; he was the rich miller, was he not? – seemed to prefer to listen instead to Rudy recounting hunting stories: the difficulties and dangers the chamois-hunters confront up on the high mountain peaks, and how you must go down on all fours when approaching the treacherous snow cornices which wind and weather fasten to the mountain edge, and then go on all fours again when crossing those makeshift bridges the snowdrift has thrown across the deep chasms. Rudy looked so dashing as with brightly shining eyes he talked about his hunter’s life, the chamois’ cleverness and audacious leaps, the mighty Föhn and the rolling avalanches. He correctly noticed that with every fresh description he was winning over the miller more and more, and that what particularly appealed to him was the account of the vulture and the bold king-eagle.
Not far away, but inside Canton Valais, there was an eagle’s nest built in very deftly under the overhanging edge of the mountain. There was a young bird up there, which nobody had caught. A few days earlier an Englishman had offered Rudy a whole heap of gold for capturing the young one alive. ‘But there are limits to everything,’ Rudy said, ‘the eaglet there is simply not for taking. It would be crazy to let oneself in for such a thing.’
And the wine flowed and the conversation flowed, but the evening was all too short for Rudy, and indeed it was gone midnight when he brought this first visit to the mill to an end.
The lights shone on for a little while through the window and among the green branches. From the open hatch the Parlour Cat came out onto the roof and by way of the guttering the Kitchen Cat did the same.
‘Do you know the latest news from inside the mill?’ said the Parlour Cat. ‘A private engagement is underway in this very house! The Old Man doesn’t know about it yet. All evening long Rudy and Babette have been making contact under the table with their paws – I mean, their feet! They trod on me twice, but I didn’t so much as miaow; it’d only have drawn attention.’
‘I would have miaowed!’ said the Kitchen Cat.
‘Yes, but how you behave in the kitchen isn’t how you behave in the parlour!’ said the Parlour Cat, ‘I only wonder what the miller will say when he hears about the engagement.’
Yes, what would the miller say, that was what Rudy was wondering too, but he found himself unable to wait long before knowing. And so, not many days later, when the omnibus rumbled over the Rhône bridge between Valais and Vaud, Rudy was sitting on it in as good spirits as ever, and full of pleasant thoughts about getting consent this very evening.
And when the evening had been and gone, and the omnibus was making the same way back, yes, once again Rudy was sitting on it, just as before except that at the mill the Parlour Cat was spreading news:
‘Have you heard, you kitchen creature you? The miller now knows everything. It’s come to a fine old pass. Rudy arrived here towards evening, and he and Babette had a great deal to huddle together and whisper about. They were standing for quite a while right outside the door to the miller’s private room. I was lying at their feet, but they’d neither eyes nor thoughts for me. “I’m going straight in to your father!” said Rudy, “it’s a just cause.” “Shall I come with you?” said Babette, “it’ll give you courage!” “I’ve plenty enough courage of my own,” said Rudy, “but if you were with me, he’d have to look kindly on us whether he wants to or not.”
‘And so they went in, Rudy stepping on me very heavily in the hall; Rudy can be unspeakably clumsy. I miaowed, but neither he nor Babette had ears to hear me. They opened the door, the two of them went inside, with me going in front. But I jumped up onto the back of a chair, I couldn’t know whether Rudy would be giving out kicks of some kind. But it was the miller who did the kicking. It was a terrific kick too. Out through the door and up into the mountains with the chamois! It’s them Rudy has to aim at now, and not our little Babette.’
‘But what was actually said?’ asked the Kitchen Cat.
‘Said! – Everything was said, the sort of things people say when they’re proposing marriage. “I’m fond of her, and she’s fond of me!” And “When there’s milk in the churn for one, there’s also milk in the churn for two!”
‘“But she has a very high position socially,” the miller said, “she’s right up there with my grain, my golden grain. You know perfectly well you don’t come anywhere near her!”
‘“But nothing’s too high up to reach when you’ve a mind to!” said Rudy, for he’s very quick on the draw.
‘“Well, the eaglet – you can’t reach him; you admitted as much when you were here last. And Babette’s position is higher still.”
‘“I’m going to get both of them!” said Rudy.
‘“All right, I’ll make you a present of her when you’ve made me a present of the young eagle alive,” said the miller, and laughed so that tears streamed down his face. “But thanks very much for your visit, Rudy! Come again tomorrow morning, and you’ll find nobody at home. Goodbye, Rudy!”
‘And Babette said goodbye too, as pathetic as a little kitten who can’t see her mother. “When a man’s a man his word’s his word!” said Rudy. “Don’t cry, Babette, I’ll bring you the eaglet.”
‘“You’ll break your neck, I hope!” said the miller, “and then we’ll have got you well and truly out of the way!”
‘That’s what I call a thorough kicking. Rudy has now taken himself off, and Babette is sitting and sobbing, but the miller is singing a German song that he’s learned on his travels. I won’t grieve over it all, it wouldn’t help.’
‘But it’s always good to give a show of doing so,’ said the Kitchen Cat.