Noguère, an old patriarch, is about to die and decides to confess at last to a priest. He once lived alone with his son Juste, who helped him to farm the Mauvents land. One night Noguère fired at a couple of trespassers, hurting the girl and killing her fiancé. Giving Catoune, the girl, the shelter of his home, Noguère was forced - however reluctantly it may have been - to break the bad news to the fiancée. For all that Catoune recovered, settled down and later married Juste. After a while Juste left for the war and was soon reported missing. Noguère comforted the distressed young woman so well that she became her mistress.