Jean De Florette Page #2

Do you know if it's loaded?

I didn't look.

You can't tell with a Hammerless.

I bet it's loaded with buckshot.

He kept it loaded

on account of the wild boars.

It could be dangerous.

It's got a hair trigger.

A jolt could set it off!

- Maybe he set the safety catch?

- Not him!

- So you're the heir.

- No. We were only distant cousins.

But you'll get something.

No, it'll all go

to his sister, Florette.

Is she still alive?

Why not?

She's younger than you!

But I heard her husband died.

Who's this Florette?

Florette de Berengre,

old Camoins' daughter.

The pretty one.

Your uncle knew her well.

Isn't that so, Csar?

Where is she?

In Crespin. She married Lionel,

the blacksmith there.

Did you go to her wedding?

No. I was in a military hospital

in Africa.

I came back too late.

I'll write to tell her

her brother's dead.

If she's alive,

she'll claim the estate.

Yes, she's the heiress.

Some inheritance!

I don't agree.

The house is still in good shape.

- It has plenty of olive trees.

- They're rotting away!

They just need a tickle with a pickaxe.

Sure, that way they'll die laughing!

It never rains on that land.

You hear the storm coming close,

but, at the ridge,

the clouds split in two

and it rains on the other side.

The valley side

just gets a few drops.

Maybe so,

but it so happens there's

a spring on Bouffigue's land.

- There was a tiny spring.

- No, it was a big one.

My pa showed it to me

when I was a little kid.

It was a really big stream.

You were either a baby,

or it had just rained...

When I saw it 30 years ago,

it was as thin as my finger!

Do you think a spring

like that can dry up?

Springs are like pretty girls.

Neglect them

and they leave you high and dry.

I saw a fig tree there last year.

So there's water there!

- There was water!

- But there are new shoots!

Just tend to your bar!

What do you know about springs?

I say this one's dry!

I say those trees are dead,

and that soil is rotten!

And I say I wouldn't take that land

if you gave it to me!

I haven't written for years.

Who are you writing to?

To Grafignette.

Who's that?

You don't know her.

She left before you were born.

When the boys tried to kiss her,

she'd scratch their faces.

She sharpened her nails to a point.

That's how she wound up an old maid.

Later on, she left to work

for the priest in Crespin.

She was Florette's best friend.

She can tell me all about her.

I've got an idea:

I'll go to see Florette in Crespin.

No, you won't!

If she knows you want her land,

she'll ask three times the price.

Besides... if she knows it's for us,

she'll say no.

Why?

That's the way she is.

What can we do then?

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