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diff --git a/old/1417.txt b/old/1417.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8848cc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1417.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12978 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sons of the Soil, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sons of the Soil + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley + +Release Date: August, 1998 [Etext #1417] +Posting Date: February 24, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SONS OF THE SOIL *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +SONS OF THE SOIL + + +By Honore De Balzac + + +Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley + + + + +DEDICATION + + + To Monsieur P. S. B. Gavault. + + Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote these words at the beginning of his + Nouvelle Heloise: "I have seen the morals of my time and I publish + these letters." May I not say to you, in imitation of that great + writer, "I have studied the march of my epoch and I publish this + work"? + + The object of this particular study--startling in its truth so + long as society makes philanthropy a principle instead of + regarding it as an accident--is to bring to sight the leading + characters of a class too long unheeded by the pens of writers who + seek novelty as their chief object. Perhaps this forgetfulness is + only prudence in these days when the people are heirs of all the + sycophants of royalty. We make criminals poetic, we commiserate + the hangman, we have all but deified the proletary. Sects have + risen, and cried by every pen, "Arise, working-men!" just as + formerly they cried, "Arise!" to the "tiers etat." None of these + Erostrates, however, have dared to face the country solitudes and + study the unceasing conspiracy of those whom we term weak against + those others who fancy themselves strong,--that of the peasant + against the proprietor. It is necessary to enlighten not only the + legislator of to-day but him of to-morrow. In the midst of the + present democratic ferment, into which so many of our writers + blindly rush, it becomes an urgent duty to exhibit the peasant who + renders Law inapplicable, and who has made the ownership of land + to be a thing that is, and that is not. + + You are now to behold that indefatigable mole, that rodent which + undermines and disintegrates the soil, parcels it out and divides + an acre into a hundred fragments,--ever spurred on to his banquet + by the lower middle classes who make him at once their auxiliary + and their prey. This essentially unsocial element, created by the + Revolution, will some day absorb the middle classes, just as the + middle classes have destroyed the nobility. Lifted above the law + by its own insignificance, this Robespierre, with one head and + twenty million arms, is at work perpetually; crouching in country + districts, intrenched in municipal councils, under arms in the + national guard of every canton in France,--one result of the year + 1830, which failed to remember that Napoleon preferred the chances + of defeat to the danger of arming the masses. + + If during the last eight years I have again and again given up the + writing of this book (the most important of those I have + undertaken to write), and as often returned to it, it was, as you + and other friends can well imagine, because my courage shrank from + the many difficulties, the many essential details of a drama so + doubly dreadful and so cruelly bloody. Among the reasons which + render me now almost, it may be thought, foolhardy, I count the + desire to finish a work long designed to be to you a proof of my + deep and lasting gratitude for a friendship that has ever been + among my greatest consolations in misfortune. + + De Balzac. + + + + +SONS OF THE SOIL + + + + +PART I + + Whoso land hath, contention hath. + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE CHATEAU + + +Les Aigues, August 6, 1823. + +To Monsieur Nathan, + +My dear Nathan,--You, who provide the public with such delightful dreams +through the magic of your imagination, are now to follow me while I make +you dream a dream of truth. You shall then tell me whether the present +century is likely to bequeath such dreams to the Nathans and the +Blondets of the year 1923; you shall estimate the distance at which we +now are from the days when the Florines of the eighteenth century found, +on awaking, a chateau like Les Aigues in the terms of their bargain. + +My dear fellow, if you receive this letter in the morning, let your +mind travel, as you lie in bed, fifty leagues or thereabouts from Paris, +along the great mail road which leads to the confines of Burgundy, and +behold two small lodges built of red brick, joined, or separated, by +a rail painted green. It was there that the diligence deposited your +friend and correspondent. + +On either side of this double pavilion grows a quick-set hedge, from +which the brambles straggle like stray locks of hair. Here and there a +tree shoots boldly up; flowers bloom on the slopes of the wayside ditch, +bathing their feet in its green and sluggish water. The hedge at both +ends meets and joins two strips of woodland, and the double meadow thus +inclosed is doubtless the result of a clearing. + +These dusty and deserted lodges give entrance to a magnificent avenue of +centennial elms, whose umbrageous heads lean toward each other and form +a long and most majestic arbor. The grass grows in this avenue, and only +a few wheel-tracks can be seen along its double width of way. The great +age of the trees, the breadth of the avenue, the venerable construction +of the lodges, the brown tints of their stone courses, all bespeak an +approach to some half-regal residence. + +Before reaching this enclosure from the height of an eminence such as we +Frenchmen rather conceitedly call a mountain, at the foot of which lies +the village of Conches (the last post-house), I had seen the long valley +of Aigues, at the farther end of which the mail road turns to follow a +straight line into the little sub-prefecture of La Ville-aux-Fayes, over +which, as you know, the nephew of our friend des Lupeaulx lords it. Tall +forests lying on the horizon, along vast slopes which skirt a river, +command this rich valley, which is framed in the far distance by the +mountains of a lesser Switzerland, called the Morvan. These forests +belong to Les Aigues, and to the Marquis de Ronquerolles and the Comte +de Soulanges, whose castles and parks and villages, seen in the distance +from these heights, give the scene a strong resemblance to the imaginary +landscapes of Velvet Breughel. + +If these details do not remind you of all the castles in the air you +have desired to possess in France you are not worthy to receive the +present narrative of an astounded Parisian. At last I have seen a +landscape where art is blended with nature in such a way that neither +of them spoils the other; the art is natural, and the nature artistic. +I have found the oasis that you and I have dreamed of when reading +novels,--nature luxuriant and adorned, rolling lines that are not +confused, something wild withal, unkempt, mysterious, not common. Jump +that green railing and come on! + +When I tried to look up the avenue, which the sun never penetrates +except when it rises or when it sets, striping the road like a zebra +with its oblique rays, my view was obstructed by an outline of rising +ground; after that is passed, the long avenue is obstructed by a copse, +within which the roads meet at a cross-ways, in the centre of which +stands a stone obelisk, for all the world like an eternal exclamation +mark. From the crevices between the foundation stones of this erection, +which is topped by a spiked ball (what an idea!), hang flowering plants, +blue or yellow according to the season. Les Aigues must certainly have +been built by a woman, or for a woman; no man would have had such dainty +ideas; the architect no doubt had his cue. + +Passing through the little wood placed there as sentinel, I came upon +a charming declivity, at the foot of which foamed and gurgled a little +brook, which I crossed on a culvert of mossy stones, superb in color, +the prettiest of all the mosaics which time manufactures. The avenue +continues by the brookside up a gentle rise. In the distance, the first +tableau is now seen,--a mill and its dam, a causeway and trees, linen +laid out to dry, the thatched cottage of the miller, his fishing-nets, +and the tank where the fish are kept,--not to speak of the miller's boy, +who was already watching me. No matter where you are in the country, +however solitary you may think yourself, you are certain to be the focus +of the two eyes of a country bumpkin; a laborer rests on his hoe, +a vine-dresser straightens his bent back, a little goat-girl, or +shepherdess, or milkmaid climbs a willow to stare at you. + +Presently the avenue merges into an alley of acacias, which leads to an +iron railing made in the days when iron-workers fashioned those slender +filagrees which are not unlike the copies set us by a writing-master. On +either side of the railing is a ha-ha, the edges of which bristle with +angry spikes,--regular porcupines in metal. The railing is closed +at both ends by two porter's-lodges, like those of the palace at +Versailles, and the gateway is surmounted by colossal vases. The gold +of the arabesques is ruddy, for rust has added its tints, but this +entrance, called "the gate of the Avenue," which plainly shows the hand +of the Great Dauphin (to whom, indeed, Les Aigues owes it), seems to me +none the less beautiful for that. At the end of each ha-ha the walls +of the park, built of rough-hewn stone, begin. These stones, set in a +mortar made of reddish earth, display their variegated colors, the +warm yellows of the silex, the white of the lime carbonates, the russet +browns of the sandstone, in many a fantastic shape. As you first enter +it, the park is gloomy, the walls are hidden by creeping plants and by +trees that for fifty years have heard no sound of axe. One might think +it a virgin forest, made primeval again through some phenomenon granted +exclusively to forests. The trunks of the trees are swathed with lichen +which hangs from one to another. Mistletoe, with its viscid leaves, +droops from every fork of the branches where moisture settles. I have +found gigantic ivies, wild arabesques which flourish only at fifty +leagues from Paris, here where land does not cost enough to make one +sparing of it. The landscape on such free lines covers a great deal of +ground. Nothing is smoothed off; rakes are unknown, ruts and ditches +are full of water, frogs are tranquilly delivered of their tadpoles, the +woodland flowers bloom, and the heather is as beautiful as that I have +seen on your mantle-shelf in January in the elegant beau-pot sent by +Florine. This mystery is intoxicating, it inspires vague desires. The +forest odors, beloved of souls that are epicures of poesy, who delight +in the tiny mosses, the noxious fungi, the moist mould, the willows, the +balsams, the wild thyme, the green waters of a pond, the golden star +of the yellow water-lily,--the breath of all such vigorous propagations +came to my nostrils and filled me with a single thought; was it their +soul? I seemed to see a rose-tinted gown floating along the winding +alley. + +The path ended abruptly in another copse, where birches and poplars and +all the quivering trees palpitated,--an intelligent family with graceful +branches and elegant bearing, the trees of a love as free! It was from +this point, my dear fellow, that I saw a pond covered with the white +water-lily and other plants with broad flat leaves and narrow slender +ones, on which lay a boat painted white and black, as light as a +nut-shell and dainty as the wherry of a Seine boatman. Beyond rose +the chateau, built in 1560, of fine red brick, with stone courses and +copings, and window-frames in which the sashes were of small leaded +panes (O Versailles!). The stone is hewn in diamond points, but +hollowed, as in the Ducal Palace at Venice on the facade toward the +Bridge of Sighs. There are no regular lines about the castle except in +the centre building, from which projects a stately portico with double +flights of curving steps, and round balusters slender at their base +and broadening at the middle. The main building is surrounded by +clock-towers and sundry modern turrets, with galleries and vases more +or less Greek. No harmony there, my dear Nathan! These heterogeneous +erections are wrapped, so to speak, by various evergreen trees whose +branches shed their brown needles upon the roofs, nourishing the lichen +and giving tone to the cracks and crevices where the eye delights to +wander. Here you see the Italian pine, the stone pine, with its red bark +and its majestic parasol; here a cedar two hundred years old, weeping +willows, a Norway spruce, and a beech which overtops them all; and +there, in front of the main tower, some very singular shrubs,--a yew +trimmed in a way that recalls some long-decayed garden of old France, +and magnolias with hortensias at their feet. In short, the place is +the Invalides of the heroes of horticulture, once the fashion and now +forgotten, like all other heroes. + +A chimney, with curious copings, which was sending forth great volumes +of smoke, assured me that this delightful scene was not an opera +setting. A kitchen reveals human beings. Now imagine _me_, Blondet, who +shiver as if in the polar regions at Saint-Cloud, in the midst of this +glowing Burgundian climate. The sun sends down its warmest rays, the +king-fisher watches on the shores of the pond, the cricket chirps, the +grain-pods burst, the poppy drops its morphia in glutinous tears, and +all are clearly defined on the dark-blue ether. Above the ruddy soil +of the terraces flames that joyous natural punch which intoxicates the +insects and the flowers and dazzles our eyes and browns our faces. The +grape is beading, its tendrils fall in a veil of threads whose +delicacy puts to shame the lace-makers. Beside the house blue larkspur, +nasturtium, and sweet-peas are blooming. From a distance orange-trees +and tuberoses scent the air. After the poetic exhalations of the woods +(a gradual preparation) came the delectable pastilles of this botanic +seraglio. + +Standing on the portico, like the queen of flowers, behold a woman robed +in white, with hair unpowdered, holding a parasol lined with white silk, +but herself whiter than the silk, whiter than the lilies at her feet, +whiter than the starry jasmine that climbed the balustrade,--a woman, a +Frenchwoman born in Russia, who said as I approached her, "I had almost +given you up." She had seen me as I left the copse. With what perfection +do all women, even the most guileless, understand the arrangement of +a scenic effect? The movements of the servants, who were preparing to +serve breakfast, showed me that the meal had been delayed until after +the arrival of the diligence. She had not ventured to come to meet me. + +Is this not our dream,--the dream of all lovers of the beautiful, under +whatsoever form it comes; the seraphic beauty that Luini put into his +Marriage of the Virgin, that noble fresco at Sarono; the beauty that +Rubens grasped in the tumult of his "Battle of the Thermodon"; the +beauty that five centuries have elaborated in the cathedrals of Seville +and Milan; the beauty of the Saracens at Granada, the beauty of Louis +XIV. at Versailles, the beauty of the Alps, and that of this Limagne in +which I stand? + +Belonging to the estate, about which there is nothing too princely, +nor yet too financial, where prince and farmer-general have both lived +(which fact serves to explain it), are four thousand acres of woodland, +a park of some nine hundred acres, the mill, three leased farms, another +immense farm at Conches, and vineyards,--the whole producing a revenue +of about seventy thousand francs a year. Now you know Les Aigues, my +dear fellow; where I have been expected for the last two weeks, and +where I am at this moment, in the chintz-lined chamber assigned to +dearest friends. + +Above the park, towards Conches, a dozen little brooks, clear, limpid +streams coming from the Morvan, fall into the pond, after adorning +with their silvery ribbons the valleys of the park and the magnificent +gardens around the chateau. The name of the place, Les Aigues, comes +from these charming streams of water; the estate was originally called +in the old title-deeds "Les Aigues-Vives" to distinguish it from +"Aigues-Mortes"; but the word "Vives" has now been dropped. The pond +empties into the stream, which follows the course of the avenue, through +a wide and straight canal bordered on both sides and along its +whole length by weeping willows. This canal, thus arched, produces a +delightful effect. Gliding through it, seated on a thwart of the little +boat, one could fancy one's self in the nave of some great cathedral, +the choir being formed of the main building of the house seen at the end +of it. When the setting sun casts its orange tones mingled with amber +upon the casements of the chateau, the effect is that of painted +windows. At the other end of the canal we see Blangy, the county-town, +containing about sixty houses, and the village church, which is nothing +more than a tumble-down building with a wooden clock-tower which +appears to hold up a roof of broken tiles. One comfortable house and the +parsonage are distinguishable; but the township is a large one,--about +two hundred scattered houses in all, those of the village forming as +it were the capital. The roads are lined with fruit-trees, and numerous +little gardens are strewn here and there,--true country gardens with +everything in them; flowers, onions, cabbages and grapevines, currants, +and a great deal of manure. The village has a primitive air; it is +rustic, and has that decorative simplicity which we artists are forever +seeking. In the far distance is the little town of Soulanges overhanging +a vast sheet of water, like the buildings on the lake of Thune. + +When you stroll in the park, which has four gates, each superb in style, +you feel that our mythological Arcadias are flat and stale. Arcadia is +in Burgundy, not in Greece; Arcadia is at Les Aigues and nowhere else. A +river, made by scores of brooklets, crosses the park at its lower level +with a serpentine movement; giving a dewy freshness and tranquillity +to the scene,--an air of solitude, which reminds one of a convent of +Carthusians, and all the more because, on an artificial island in the +river, is a hermitage in ruins, the interior elegance of which is worthy +of the luxurious financier who constructed it. Les Aigues, my dear +Nathan, once belonged to that Bouret who spent two millions to receive +Louis XV. on a single occasion under his roof. How many ardent passions, +how many distinguished minds, how many fortunate circumstances have +contributed to make this beautiful place what it is! A mistress of Henri +IV. rebuilt the chateau where it now stands. The favorite of the Great +Dauphin, Mademoiselle Choin (to whom Les Aigues was given), added +a number of farms to it. Bouret furnished the house with all the +elegancies of Parisian homes for an Opera celebrity; and to him Les +Aigues owes the restoration of its ground floor in the style Louis XV. + +I have often stood rapt in admiration at the beauty of the dining-room. +The eye is first attracted to the ceiling, painted in fresco in the +Italian manner, where lightsome arabesques are frolicking. Female forms, +in stucco ending in foliage, support at regular distances corbeils +of fruit, from which spring the garlands of the ceiling. Charming +paintings, the work of unknown artists, fill the panels between the +female figures, representing the luxuries of the table,--boar's-heads, +salmon, rare shell-fish, and all edible things,--which fantastically +suggest men and women and children, and rival the whimsical imagination +of the Chinese,--the people who best understand, to my thinking +at least, the art of decoration. The mistress of the house finds a +bell-wire beneath her feet to summon servants, who enter only when +required, disturbing no interviews and overhearing no secrets. The +panels above the doorways represent gay scenes; all the embrasures, both +of doors and windows, are in marble mosaics. The room is heated from +below. Every window looks forth on some delightful view. + +This room communicates with a bath-room on one side and on the other +with a boudoir which opens into the salon. The bath-room is lined with +Sevres tiles, painted in monochrome, the floor is mosaic, and the bath +marble. An alcove, hidden by a picture painted on copper, which turns +on a pivot, contains a couch in gilt wood of the truest Pompadour. The +ceiling is lapis-lazuli starred with gold. The tiles are painted from +designs by Boucher. Bath, table and love are therefore closely united. + +After the salon, which, I should tell you, my dear fellow, exhibits the +magnificence of the Louis XIV. manner, you enter a fine billiard-room +unrivalled so far as I know in Paris itself. The entrance to this suite +of ground-floor apartments is through a semi-circular antechamber, at +the lower end of which is a fairy-like staircase, lighted from +above, which leads to other parts of the house, all built at various +epochs--and to think that they chopped off the heads of the wealthy in +1793! Good heavens! why can't people understand that the marvels of art +are impossible in a land where there are no great fortunes, no secure, +luxurious lives? If the Left insists on killing kings why not leave us a +few little princelings with money in their pockets? + +At the present moment these accumulated treasures belong to a charming +woman with an artistic soul, who is not content with merely restoring +them magnificently, but who keeps the place up with loving care. Sham +philosophers, studying themselves while they profess to be studying +humanity, call these glorious things extravagance. They grovel before +cotton prints and the tasteless designs of modern industry, as if we +were greater and happier in these days than in those of Henri IV., Louis +XIV., and Louis XVI., monarchs who have all left the stamp of their +reigns upon Les Aigues. What palace, what royal castle, what mansions, +what noble works of art, what gold brocaded stuffs are sacred now? +The petticoats of our grandmothers go to cover the chairs in these +degenerate days. Selfish and thieving interlopers that we are, we pull +down everything and plant cabbages where marvels once were rife. Only +yesterday the plough levelled Persan, that magnificent domain which +gave a title to one of the most opulent families of the old parliament; +hammers have demolished Montmorency, which cost an Italian follower +of Napoleon untold sums; Val, the creation of Regnault de Saint-Jean +d'Angely, Cassan, built by a mistress of the Prince de Conti; in all, +four royal houses have disappeared in the valley of the Oise alone. We +are getting a Roman campagna around Paris in advance of the days when a +tempest shall blow from the north and overturn our plaster palaces and +our pasteboard decorations. + +Now see, my dear fellow, to what the habit of bombasticising in +newspapers brings you to. Here am I writing a downright article. Does +the mind have its ruts, like a road? I stop; for I rob the mail, and I +rob myself, and you may be yawning--to be continued in our next; I hear +the second bell, which summons me to one of those abundant breakfasts +the fashion of which has long passed away, in the dining-rooms of Paris, +be it understood. + +Here's the history of my Arcadia. In 1815, there died at Les Aigues one +of the famous wantons of the last century,--a singer, forgotten of +the guillotine and the nobility, after preying upon exchequers, upon +literature, upon aristocracy, and all but reaching the scaffold; +forgotten, like so many fascinating old women who expiate their +golden youth in country solitudes, and replace their lost loves by +another,--man by Nature. Such women live with the flowers, with the +woodland scents, with the sky, with the sunshine, with all that sings +and skips and shines and sprouts,--the birds, the squirrels, the +flowers, the grass; they know nothing about these things, they cannot +explain them, but they love them; they love them so well that they +forget dukes, marshals, rivalries, financiers, follies, luxuries, their +paste jewels and their real diamonds, their heeled slippers and their +rouge,--all, for the sweetness of country life. + +I have gathered, my dear fellow, much precious information about the old +age of Mademoiselle Laguerre; for, to tell you the truth, the after life +of such women as Florine, Mariette, Suzanne de Val Noble, and Tullia has +made me, every now and then, extremely inquisitive, as though I were a +child inquiring what had become of the old moons. + +In 1790 Mademoiselle Laguerre, alarmed at the turn of public affairs, +came to settle at Les Aigues, bought and given to her by Bouret, who +passed several summers with her at the chateau. Terrified at the fate +of Madame du Barry, she buried her diamonds. At that time she was only +fifty-three years of age, and according to her lady's-maid, afterwards +married to a gendarme named Soudry, "Madame was more beautiful than +ever." My dear Nathan, Nature has no doubt her private reasons for +treating women of this sort like spoiled children; excesses, instead +of killing them, fatten them, preserve them, renew their youth. Under +a lymphatic appearance they have nerves which maintain their marvellous +physique; they actually preserve their beauty for reasons which would +make a virtuous woman haggard. No, upon my word, Nature is not moral! + +Mademoiselle Laguerre lived an irreproachable life at Les Aigues, one +might even call it a saintly one, after her famous adventure,--you +remember it? One evening in a paroxysm of despairing love, she fled from +the opera-house in her stage dress, rushed into the country, and passed +the night weeping by the wayside. (Ah! how they have calumniated the +love of Louis XV.'s time!) She was so unused to see the sunrise, that +she hailed it with one of her finest songs. Her attitude, quite as much +as her tinsel, drew the peasants about her; amazed at her gestures, +her voice, her beauty, they took her for an angel, and dropped on their +knees around her. If Voltaire had not existed we might have thought it +a new miracle. I don't know if God gave her much credit for her tardy +virtue, for love after all must be a sickening thing to a woman as weary +of it as a wanton of the old Opera. Mademoiselle Laguerre was born in +1740, and her hey-day was in 1760, when Monsieur (I forget his name) was +called the "ministre de la guerre," on account of his liaison with her. +She abandoned that name, which was quite unknown down here, and called +herself Madame des Aigues, as if to merge her identity in the estate, +which she delighted to improve with a taste that was profoundly +artistic. When Bonaparte became First Consul, she increased her property +by the purchase of church lands, for which she used the proceeds of +her diamonds. As an Opera divinity never knows how to take care of +her money, she intrusted the management of the estate to a steward, +occupying herself with her flowers and fruits and with the beautifying +of the park. + +After Mademoiselle was dead and buried at Blangy, the notary of +Soulanges--that little town which lies between Ville-aux-Fayes and +Blangy, the capital of the township--made an elaborate inventory, and +sought out the heirs of the singer, who never knew she had any. Eleven +families of poor laborers living near Amiens, and sleeping in cotton +sheets, awoke one fine morning in golden ones. The property was sold +at auction. Les Aigues was bought by Montcornet, who had laid by enough +during his campaigns in Spain and Pomerania to make the purchase, which +cost about eleven hundred thousand francs, including the furniture. The +general, no doubt, felt the influence of these luxurious apartments; and +I was arguing with the countess only yesterday that her marriage was a +direct result of the purchase of Les Aigues. + +To rightly understand the countess, my dear Nathan, you must know that +the general is a violent man, red as fire, five feet nine inches tall, +round as a tower, with a thick neck and the shoulders of a blacksmith, +which must have amply filled his cuirass. Montcornet commanded +the cuirassiers at the battle of Essling (called by the Austrians +Gross-Aspern), and came near perishing when that noble corps was driven +back on the Danube. He managed to cross the river astride a log of wood. +The cuirassiers, finding the bridge down, took the glorious resolution, +at Montcornet's command, to turn and resist the entire Austrian army, +which carried off on the morrow over thirty wagon-loads of cuirasses. +The Germans invented a name for their enemies on this occasion which +means "men of iron."[*] Montcornet has the outer man of a hero of +antiquity. His arms are stout and vigorous, his chest deep and broad; +his head has a leonine aspect, his voice is of those that can order a +charge in the thick of battle; but he has nothing more than the courage +of a daring man; he lacks mind and breadth of view. Like other generals +to whom military common-sense, the natural boldness of those who spend +their lives in danger, and the habit of command gives an appearance of +superiority, Montcornet has an imposing effect when you first meet him; +he seems a Titan, but he contains a dwarf, like the pasteboard giant +who saluted Queen Elizabeth at the gates of Kenilworth. Choleric though +kind, and full of imperial hauteur, he has the caustic tongue of a +soldier, and is quick at repartee, but quicker still with a blow. He +may have been superb on a battle-field; in a household he is simply +intolerable. He knows no love but barrack love,--the love which those +clever myth-makers, the ancients, placed under the patronage of Eros, +son of Mars and Venus. Those delightful chroniclers of the old religions +provided themselves with a dozen different Loves. Study the fathers and +the attributes of these Loves, and you will discover a complete social +nomenclature,--and yet we fancy that we originate things! When the world +turns upside down like an hour-glass, when the seas become continents, +Frenchmen will find canons, steamboats, newspapers, and maps wrapped up +in seaweed at the bottom of what is now our ocean. + + [*] I do not, on principle, like foot-notes, and this is the + first I have ever allowed myself. Its historical interest + must be my excuse; it will prove, moreover, that + descriptions of battles should be something more than the + dry particulars of technical writers, who for the last three + thousand years have told us about left and right wings and + centres being broken or driven in, but never a word about + the soldier himself, his sufferings, and his heroism. The + conscientious care with which I prepared myself to write the + "Scenes from Military Life," led me to many a battle-field + once wet with the blood of France and her enemies. Among + them I went to Wagram. When I reached the shores of the + Danube, opposite Lobau, I noticed on the bank, which is + covered with turf, certain undulations that reminded me of + the furrows in a field of lucern. I asked the reason of it, + thinking I should hear of some new method of agriculture: + "There sleep the cavalry of the imperial guard," said the + peasant who served us as a guide; "those are their graves + you see there." The words made me shudder. Prince Frederic + Schwartzenburg, who translated them, added that the man had + himself driven one of the wagons laden with cuirasses. By + one of the strange chances of war our guide had served a + breakfast to Napoleon on the morning of the battle of + Wagram. Though poor, he had kept the double napoleon which + the Emperor gave him for his milk and his eggs. The curate + of Gross-Aspern took us to the famous cemetery where French + and Austrians struggled together knee-deep in blood, with a + courage and obstinacy glorious to each. There, while + explaining that a marble tablet (to which our attention had + been attracted, and on which were inscribed the names of the + owner of Gross-Aspern, who had been killed on the third day) + was the sole compensation ever given to the family, he said, + in a tone of deep sadness: "It was a time of great misery, + and of great hopes; but now are the days of forgetfulness." + The saying seemed to me sublime in its simplicity; but when + I came to reflect upon the matter, I felt there was some + justification for the apparent ingratitude of the House of + Austria. Neither nations nor kings are wealthy enough to + reward all the devotions to which these tragic struggles + give rise. Let those who serve a cause with a secret + expectation of recompense, set a price upon their blood and + become mercenaries. Those who wield either sword or pen for + their country's good ought to think of nothing but of _doing + their best_, as our fathers used to say, and expect nothing, + not even glory, except as a happy accident. + + It was in rushing to retake this famous cemetery for the + third time that Massena, wounded and carried in the box of a + cabriolet, made this splendid harangue to his soldiers: + "What! you rascally curs, who have only five sous a day + while I have forty thousand, do you let me go ahead of you?" + All the world knows the order which the Emperor sent to his + lieutenant by M. de Sainte-Croix, who swam the Danube three + times: "Die or retake the village; it is a question of + saving the army; the bridges are destroyed." + + The Author. + + +Now, I must tell you that the Comtesse de Montcornet is a fragile, +timid, delicate little woman. What do you think of such a marriage +as that? To those who know society such things are common enough; a +well-assorted marriage is the exception. Nevertheless, I have come to +see how it is that this slender little creature handles her bobbins in +a way to lead this heavy, solid, stolid general precisely as he himself +used to lead his cuirassiers. + +If Montcornet begins to bluster before his Virginie, Madame lays a +finger on her lips and he is silent. He smokes his pipes and his cigars +in a kiosk fifty feet from the chateau, and airs himself before he +returns to the house. Proud of his subjection, he turns to her, like a +bear drunk on grapes, and says, when anything is proposed, "If Madame +approves." When he comes to his wife's room, with that heavy step which +makes the tiles creak as though they were boards, and she, not wanting +him, calls out: "Don't come in!" he performs a military volte-face and +says humbly: "You will let me know when I can see you?"--in the very +tones with which he shouted to his cuirassiers on the banks of the +Danube: "Men, we must die, and die well, since there's nothing else we +can do!" I have heard him say, speaking of his wife, "Not only do I love +her, but I venerate her." When he flies into a passion which defies all +restraint and bursts all bonds, the little woman retires into her own +room and leaves him to shout. But four or five hours later she will say: +"Don't get into a passion, my dear, you might break a blood-vessel; and +besides, you hurt me." Then the lion of Essling retreats out of sight +to wipe his eyes. Sometimes he comes into the salon when she and I are +talking, and if she says: "Don't disturb us, he is reading to me," he +leaves us without a word. + +It is only strong men, choleric and powerful, thunder-bolts of war, +diplomats with olympian heads, or men of genius, who can show this +utter confidence, this generous devotion to weakness, this constant +protection, this love without jealousy, this easy good humor with a +woman. Good heavens! I place the science of the countess's management +of her husband as far above the peevish, arid virtues as the satin of a +causeuse is superior to the Utrecht velvet of a dirty bourgeois sofa. + +My dear fellow, I have spent six days in this delightful country-house, +and I never tire of admiring the beauties of the park, surrounded by +forests where pretty wood-paths lead beside the brooks. Nature and its +silence, these tranquil pleasures, this placid life to which she woos +me,--all attract. Ah! here is true literature; no fault of style among +the meadows. Happiness forgets all things here,--even the Debats! It has +rained all the morning; while the countess slept and Montcornet tramped +over his domain, I have compelled myself to keep my rash, imprudent +promise to write to you. + +Until now, though I was born at Alencon, of an old judge and a prefect, +so they say, and though I know something of agriculture, I supposed the +tale of estates bringing in four or five thousand francs a month to be +a fable. Money, to me, meant a couple of dreadful things,--work and a +publisher, journalism and politics. When shall we poor fellows come upon +a land where gold springs up with the grass? That is what I desire for +you and for me and the rest of us in the name of the theatre, and of the +press, and of book-making! Amen! + +Will Florine be jealous of the late Mademoiselle Laguerre? Our modern +Bourets have no French nobles now to show them how to live; they hire +one opera-box among three of them; they subscribe for their pleasures; +they no longer cut down magnificently bound quartos to match the octavos +in their library; in fact, they scarcely buy even stitched paper books. +What is to become of us? + + + Adieu; continue to care for + Your Blondet. + + +If this letter, dashed off by the idlest pen of the century, had not by +some lucky chance been preserved, it would have been almost impossible +to describe Les Aigues; and without this description the history of the +horrible events that occurred there would certainly be less interesting. + +After that remark some persons will expect to see the flashing of the +cuirass of the former colonel of the guard, and the raging of his anger +as he falls like a waterspout upon his little wife; so that the end +of this present history may be like the end of all modern dramas,--a +tragedy of the bed-chamber. Perhaps the fatal scene will take place +in that charming room with the blue monochromes, where beautiful ideal +birds are painted on the ceilings and the shutters, where Chinese +monsters laugh with open jaws on the mantle-shelf, and dragons, green +and gold, twist their tails in curious convolutions around rich vases, +and Japanese fantasy embroiders its designs of many colors; where +sofas and reclining-chairs and consoles and what-nots invite to that +contemplative idleness which forbids all action. + +No; the drama here to be developed is not one of private life; it +concerns things higher, or lower. Expect no scenes of passion; the truth +of this history is only too dramatic. And remember, the historian should +never forget that his mission is to do justice to all; the poor and the +prosperous are equals before his pen; to him the peasant appears in +the grandeur of his misery, and the rich in the pettiness of his folly. +Moreover, the rich man has passions, the peasant only wants. The peasant +is therefore doubly poor; and if, politically, his aggressions must be +pitilessly repressed, to the eyes of humanity and religion he is sacred. + + + + +CHAPTER II. A BUCOLIC OVERLOOKED BY VIRGIL + + +When a Parisian drops into the country he is cut off from all his usual +habits, and soon feels the dragging hours, no matter how attentive his +friends may be to him. Therefore, because it is so impossible to prolong +in a tete-a-tete conversations that are soon exhausted, the master +and mistress of a country-house are apt to say, calmly, "You will be +terribly bored here." It is true that to understand the delights of +country life one must have something to do, some interests in it; one +must know the nature of the work to be done, and the alternating harmony +of toil and pleasure,--eternal symbol of human life. + +When a Parisian has recovered his powers of sleeping, shaken off the +fatigues of his journey, and accustomed himself to country habits, +the hardest period of the day (if he wears thin boots and is neither +a sportsman nor an agriculturalist) is the early morning. Between the +hours of waking and breakfasting, the women of the family are sleeping +or dressing, and therefore unapproachable; the master of the house is +out and about on his own affairs; a Parisian is therefore compelled +to be alone from eight to eleven o'clock, the hour chosen in all +country-houses for breakfast. Now, having got what amusement he can +out of carefully dressing himself, he has soon exhausted that resource. +Then, perhaps, he has brought with him some work, which he finds it +impossible to do, and which goes back untouched, after he sees the +difficulties of doing it, into his valise; a writer is then obliged to +wander about the park and gape at nothing or count the big trees. The +easier the life, the more irksome such occupations are,--unless, indeed, +one belongs to the sect of shaking quakers or to the honorable guild +of carpenters or taxidermists. If one really had, like the owners of +estates, to live in the country, it would be well to supply one's self +with a geological, mineralogical, entomological, or botanical hobby; +but a sensible man doesn't give himself a vice merely to kill time for +a fortnight. The noblest estate, and the finest chateaux soon pall on +those who possess nothing but the sight of them. The beauties of nature +seem rather squalid compared to the representation of them at the +opera. Paris, by retrospection, shines from all its facets. Unless some +particular interest attaches us, as it did in Blondet's case, to scenes +honored by the steps and lighted by the eyes of a certain person, one +would envy the birds their wings and long to get back to the endless, +exciting scenes of Paris and its harrowing strifes. + +The long letter of the young journalist must make most intelligent minds +suppose that he had reached, morally and physically, that particular +phase of satisfied passions and comfortable happiness which certain +winged creatures fed in Strasbourg so perfectly represent when, with +their heads sunk behind their protruding gizzards, they neither see nor +wish to see the most appetizing food. So, when the formidable letter was +finished, the writer felt the need of getting away from the gardens of +Armida and doing something to enliven the deadly void of the morning +hours; for the hours between breakfast and dinner belonged to the +mistress of the house, who knew very well how to make them pass quickly. +To keep, as Madame de Montcornet did, a man of talent in the country +without ever seeing on his face the false smile of satiety, or detecting +the yawn of a weariness that cannot be concealed, is a great triumph for +a woman. The affection which is equal to such a test certainly ought to +be eternal. It is to be wondered at that women do not oftener employ +it to judge of their lovers; a fool, an egoist, or a petty nature +could never stand it. Philip the Second himself, the Alexander of +dissimulation, would have told his secrets if condemned to a month's +tete-a-tete in the country. Perhaps this is why kings seek to live in +perpetual motion, and allow no one to see them more than fifteen minutes +at a time. + +Notwithstanding that he had received the delicate attentions of one of +the most charming women in Paris, Emile Blondet was able to feel once +more the long forgotten delights of a truant schoolboy; and on the +morning of the day after his letter was written he had himself called +by Francois, the head valet, who was specially appointed to wait on him, +for the purpose of exploring the valley of the Avonne. + +The Avonne is a little river which, being swollen above Conches +by numerous rivulets, some of which rise in Les Aigues, falls at +Ville-aux-Fayes into one of the large affluents of the Seine. The +geographical position of the Avonne, navigable for over twelve miles, +had, ever since Jean Bouvet invented rafts, given full money value to +the forests of Les Aigues, Soulanges, and Ronquerolles, standing on the +crest of the hills between which this charming river flows. The park +of Les Aigues covers the greater part of the valley, between the river +(bordered on both sides by the forest called des Aigues) and the royal +mail road, defined by a line of old elms in the distance along the +slopes of the Avonne mountains, which are in fact the foot-hills of that +magnificent amphitheater called the Morvan. + +However vulgar the comparison may be, the park, lying thus at the bottom +of the valley, is like an enormous fish with its head at Conches and +its tail in the village of Blangy; for it widens in the middle to nearly +three hundred acres, while towards Conches it counts less than fifty, +and sixty at Blangy. The position of this estate, between three +villages, and only three miles from the little town of Soulanges, from +which the descent is rapid, may perhaps have led to the strife and +caused the excesses which are the chief interest attaching to the +place. If, when seen from the mail road or from the uplands beyond +Ville-aux-Fayes, the paradise of Les Aigues induces mere passing +travellers to commit the mortal sin of envy, why should the rich +burghers of Soulanges and Ville-aux-Fayes who had it before their eyes +and admired it every day of their lives, have been more virtuous? + +This last topographical detail was needed to explain the site, also the +use of the four gates by which alone the park of Les Aigues was entered; +for it was completely surrounded by walls, except where nature had +provided a fine view, and at such points sunk fences or ha-has had been +placed. The four gates, called the gate of Conches, the gate of Avonne, +the gate of Blangy, and the gate of the Avenue, showed the styles of +the different periods at which they were constructed so admirably that a +brief description, in the interest of archaeologists, will presently be +given, as brief as the one Blondet has already written about the gate of +the Avenue. + +After eight days of strolling about with the countess, the illustrious +editor of the "Journal des Debats" knew by heart the Chinese kiosk, the +bridges, the isles, the hermitage, the dairy, the ruined temple, the +Babylonian ice-house, and all the other delusions invented by landscape +architects which some nine hundred acres of land can be made to serve. +He now wished to find the sources of the Avonne, which the general and +the countess daily extolled in the evening, making plans to visit them +which were daily forgotten the next morning. Above Les Aigues the Avonne +really had the appearance of an alpine torrent. Sometimes it hollowed +a bed among the rocks, sometimes it went underground; on this side the +brooks came down in cascades, there they flowed like the Loire on sandy +shallows where rafts could not pass on account of the shifting channels. +Blondet took a short cut through the labyrinths of the park to reach the +gate of Conches. This gate demands a few words, which give, moreover, +certain historical details about the property. + +The original founder of Les Aigues was a younger son of the Soulanges +family, enriched by marriage, whose chief ambition was to make his +elder brother jealous,--a sentiment, by the bye, to which we owe the +fairy-land of Isola Bella in the Lago Maggiore. In the middle ages +the castle of Les Aigues stood on the banks of the Avonne. Of this old +building nothing remains but the gateway, which has a porch like the +entrance to a fortified town, flanked by two round towers with conical +roofs. Above the arch of the porch are heavy stone courses, now draped +with vegetation, showing three large windows with cross-bar sashes. +A winding stairway in one of the towers leads to two chambers, and a +kitchen occupies the other tower. The roof of the porch, of pointed +shape like all old timber-work, is noticeable for two weathercocks +perched at each end of a ridge-pole ornamented with fantastic iron-work. +Many an important place cannot boast of so fine a town hall. On the +outside of this gateway, the keystone of the arch still bears the arms +of Soulanges, preserved by the hardness of the stone on which the chisel +of the artist carved them, as follows: Azure, on a pale, argent, three +pilgrim's staff's sable; a fess bronchant, gules, charged with four +grosses patee, fitched, or; with the heraldic form of a shield awarded +to younger sons. Blondet deciphered the motto, "Je soule agir,"--one of +those puns that crusaders delighted to make upon their names, and which +brings to mind a fine political maxim, which, as we shall see later, was +unfortunately forgotten by Montcornet. The gate, which was opened for +Blondet by a very pretty girl, was of time-worn wood clamped with iron. +The keeper, wakened by the creaking of the hinges, put his nose out of +the window and showed himself in his night-shirt. + +"So our keepers sleep till this time of day!" thought the Parisian, who +thought himself very knowing in rural customs. + +After a walk of about quarter of an hour, he reached the sources of +the river above Conches, where his ravished eyes beheld one of those +landscapes that ought to be described, like the history of France, in a +thousand volumes or in only one. We must here content ourselves with two +paragraphs. + +A projecting rock, covered with dwarf trees and abraded at its base by +the Avonne, to which circumstance it owes a slight resemblance to an +enormous turtle lying across the river, forms an arch through which +the eye takes in a little sheet of water, clear as a mirror, where +the stream seems to sleep until it reaches in the distance a series of +cascades falling among huge rocks, where little weeping willows with +elastic motion sway back and forth to the flow of waters. + +Beyond these cascades is the hillside, rising sheer, like a Rhine rock +clothed with moss and heather, gullied like it, again, by sharp ridges +of schist and mica sending down, here and there, white foaming rivulets +to which a little meadow, always watered and always green, serves as a +cup; farther on, beyond the picturesque chaos and in contrast to this +wild, solitary nature, the gardens of Conches are seen, with the village +roofs and the clock-tower and the outlying fields. + +There are the two paragraphs, but the rising sun, the purity of the air, +the dewy sheen, the melody of woods and waters--imagine them! + +"Almost as charming as at the Opera," thought Blondet, making his way +along the banks of the unnavigable portion of the Avonne, whose caprices +contrast with the straight and deep and silent stream of the lower +river, flowing between the tall trees of the forest of Les Aigues. + +Blondet did not proceed far on his morning walk, for he was presently +brought to a stand-still by the sight of a peasant,--one of those who, +in this drama, are supernumeraries so essential to its action that it +may be doubted whether they are not in fact its leading actors. + +When the clever journalist reached a group of rocks where the main +stream is imprisoned, as it were, between two portals, he saw a man +standing so motionless as to excite his curiosity, while the clothes and +general air of this living statue greatly puzzled him. + +The humble personage before him was a living presentment of the old +men dear to Charlet's pencil; resembling the troopers of that Homer of +soldiery in a strong frame able to endure hardship, and his immortal +skirmishers in a fiery, crimson, knotted face, showing small capacity +for submission. A coarse felt hat, the brim of which was held to the +crown by stitches, protected a nearly bald head from the weather; below +it fell a quantity of white hair which a painter would gladly have paid +four francs an hour to copy,--a dazzling mass of snow, worn like that +in all the classical representations of Deity. It was easy to guess from +the way in which the cheeks sank in, continuing the lines of the mouth, +that the toothless old fellow was more given to the bottle than the +trencher. His thin white beard gave a threatening expression to his +profile by the stiffness of its short bristles. The eyes, too small for +his enormous face, and sloping like those of a pig, betrayed cunning and +also laziness; but at this particular moment they were gleaming with the +intent look he cast upon the river. The sole garments of this curious +figure were an old blouse, formerly blue, and trousers of the coarse +burlap used in Paris to wrap bales. All city people would have shuddered +at the sight of his broken sabots, without even a wisp of straw to stop +the cracks; and it is very certain that the blouse and the trousers had +no money value at all except to a paper-maker. + +As Blondet examined this rural Diogenes, he admitted the possibility +of a type of peasantry he had seen in old tapestries, old pictures, old +sculptures, and which, up to this time, had seemed to him imaginary. He +resolved for the future not to utterly condemn the school of ugliness, +perceiving a possibility that in man beauty may be but the flattering +exception, a chimera in which the race struggles to believe. + +"What can be the ideas, the morals, the habits, of such a being? What +is he thinking of?" thought Blondet, seized with curiosity. "Is he my +fellow-creature? We have nothing in common but shape, and even that!--" + +He noticed in the old man's limbs the peculiar rigidity of the tissues +of persons who live in the open air, accustomed to the inclemencies +of the weather and to the endurance of heat and cold,--hardened to +everything, in short,--which makes their leathern skin almost a hide, +and their nerves an apparatus against physical pain almost as powerful +as that of the Russians or the Arabs. + +"Here's one of Cooper's Red-skins," thought Blondet; "one needn't go to +America to study savages." + +Though the Parisian was less than ten paces off, the old man did not +turn his head, but kept looking at the opposite bank with a fixity which +the fakirs of India give to their vitrified eyes and their stiffened +joints. Compelled by the power of a species of magnetism, more +contagious than people have any idea of, Blondet ended by gazing at the +water himself. + +"Well, my good man, what do you see there?" he asked, after the lapse of +a quarter of an hour, during which time he saw nothing to justify this +intent contemplation. + +"Hush!" whispered the old man, with a sign to Blondet not to ruffle the +air with his voice; "You will frighten it--" + +"What?" + +"An otter, my good gentleman. If it hears us it'll go quick under water. +I'm certain it jumped there; see! see! there, where the water bubbles! +Ha! it sees a fish, it is after that! But my boy will grab it as it +comes back. The otter, don't you know, is very rare; it is scientific +game, and good eating, too. I get ten francs for every one I carry to +Les Aigues, for the lady fasts Fridays, and to-morrow is Friday. Years +agone the deceased madame used to pay me twenty francs, and gave me the +skin to boot! Mouche," he called, in a low voice, "watch it!" + +Blondet now perceived on the other side of the river two bright eyes, +like those of a cat, beneath a tuft of alders; then he saw the tanned +forehead and tangled hair of a boy about ten years of age, who was lying +on his stomach and making signs towards the otter to let his master know +he kept it well in sight. Blondet, completely mastered by the eagerness +of the old man and boy, allowed the demon of the chase to get the better +of him,--that demon with the double claws of hope and curiosity, who +carries you whithersoever he will. + +"The hat-makers buy the skin," continued the old man; "it's so soft, so +handsome! They cover caps with it." + +"Do you really think so, my old man?" said Blondet, smiling. + +"Well truly, my good gentleman, you ought to know more than I, though +I am seventy years old," replied the old fellow, very humbly and +respectfully, falling into the attitude of a giver of holy water; +"perhaps you can tell me why conductors and wine-merchants are so fond +of it?" + +Blondet, a master of irony, already on his guard from the word +"scientific," recollected the Marechal de Richelieu and began to suspect +some jest on the part of the old man; but he was reassured by his +artless attitude and the perfectly stupid expression of his face. + +"In my young days we had lots of otters," whispered the old fellow; "but +they've hunted 'em so that if we see the tail of one in seven +years it is as much as ever we do. And the sub-prefect at +Ville-aux-Fayes,--doesn't monsieur know him? though he be a Parisian, +he's a fine young man like you, and he loves curiosities,--so, as I was +saying, hearing of my talent for catching otters, for I know 'em as you +know your alphabet, he says to me like this: 'Pere Fourchon,' says he, +'when you find an otter bring it to me, and I'll pay you well; and if +it's spotted white on the back,' says he, 'I'll give you thirty francs.' +That's just what he did say to me as true as I believe in God the +Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And there's a learned man at Soulanges, +Monsieur Gourdon, our doctor, who is making, so they tell me, a +collection of natural history which hasn't its mate at Dijon even; +indeed he is first among the learned men in these parts, and he'll pay +me a fine price, too; he stuffs men and beasts. Now my boy there stands +me out that that otter has got the white spots. 'If that's so,' says I +to him, 'then the good God wishes well to us this morning!' Ha! didn't +you see the water bubble? yes, there it is! there it is! Though it lives +in a kind of a burrow, it sometimes stays whole days under water. Ha, +there! it heard you, my good gentleman; it's on its guard now; for +there's not a more suspicious animal on earth; it's worse than a woman." + +"So you call women suspicious, do you?" said Blondet. + +"Faith, monsieur, if you come from Paris you ought to know about that +better than I. But you'd have done better for me if you had stayed +in your bed and slept all the morning; don't you see that wake there? +that's where she's gone under. Get up, Mouche! the otter heard monsieur +talking, and now she's scary enough to keep us at her heels till +midnight. Come, let's be off! and good-bye to our thirty francs!" + +Mouche got up reluctantly; he looked at the spot where the water +bubbled, pointed to it with his finger and seemed unable to give up all +hope. The child, with curly hair and a brown face, like the angels in +a fifteenth-century picture, seemed to be in breeches, for his trousers +ended at the knee in a ragged fringe of brambles and dead leaves. This +necessary garment was fastened upon him by cords of tarred oakum in +guise of braces. A shirt of the same burlap which made the old man's +trousers, thickened, however, by many darns, open in front showed a +sun-burnt little breast. In short, the attire of the being called Mouche +was even more startlingly simple than that of Pere Fourchon. + +"What a good-natured set of people they are here," thought Blondet; "if +a man frightened away the game of the people of the suburbs of Paris, +how their tongues would maul him!" + +As he had never seen an otter, even in a museum, he was delighted with +this episode of his early walk. "Come," said he, quite touched when the +old man walked away without asking him for a compensation, "you say +you are a famous otter catcher. If you are sure there is an otter down +there--" + +From the other side of the water Mouche pointed his finger to certain +air-bubbles coming up from the bottom of the Avonne and bursting on its +surface. + +"It has come back!" said Pere Fourchon; "don't you see it breathe, the +beggar? How do you suppose they manage to breathe at the bottom of the +water? Ah, the creature's so clever it laughs at science." + +"Well," said Blondet, who supposed the last word was a jest of the +peasantry in general rather than of this peasant in particular, "wait +and catch the otter." + +"And what are we to do about our day's work, Mouche and I?" + +"What is your day worth?" + +"For the pair of us, my apprentice and me?--Five francs," said the old +man, looking Blondet in the eye with a hesitation which betrayed an +enormous overcharge. + +The journalist took ten francs from his pocket, saying, "There's ten, +and I'll give you ten more for the otter." + +"And it won't cost you dear if there's white on its back; for the +sub-prefect told me there wasn't one o' them museums that had the like; +but he knows everything, our sub-prefect,--no fool he! If I hunt the +otter, he, M'sieur des Lupeaulx, hunts Mademoiselle Gaubertin, who has a +fine white 'dot' on her back. Come now, my good gentleman, if I may make +so bold, plunge into the middle of the Avonne and get to that stone down +there. If we head the otter off, it will come down stream; for just see +their slyness, the beggars! they always go above their burrow to feed, +for, once full of fish, they know they can easily drift down, the sly +things! Ha! if I'd been trained in their school I should be living now +on an income; but I was a long time finding out that you must go up +stream very early in the morning if you want to bag the game before +others. Well, somebody threw a spell over me when I was born. However, +we three together ought to be slyer than the otter." + +"How so, my old necromancer?" + +"Why, bless you! we are as stupid as the beasts, and so we come to +understand the beasts. Now, see, this is what we'll do. When the otter +wants to get home Mouche and I'll frighten it here, and you'll frighten +it over there; frightened by us and frightened by you it will jump on +the bank, and when it takes to earth, it is lost! It can't run; it has +web feet for swimming. Ho, ho! it will make you laugh, such floundering! +you don't know whether you are fishing or hunting! The general up at Les +Aigues, I have known him to stay here three days running, he was so bent +on getting an otter." + +Blondet, armed with a branch cut for him by the old man, who requested +him to whip the water with it when he called to him, planted himself in +the middle of the river by jumping from stone to stone. + +"There, that will do, my good gentleman." + +Blondet stood where he was told without remarking the lapse of time, for +every now and then the old fellow made him a sign as much as to say that +all was going well; and besides, nothing makes time go so fast as the +expectation that quick action is to succeed the perfect stillness of +watching. + +"Pere Fourchon," whispered the boy, finding himself alone with the old +man, "there's _really_ an otter!" + +"Do you see it?" + +"There, see there!" + +The old fellow was dumb-founded at beholding under water the +reddish-brown fur of an actual otter. + +"It's coming my way!" said the child. + +"Hit him a sharp blow on the head and jump into the water and hold him +fast down, but don't let him go!" + +Mouche dove into the water like a frightened frog. + +"Come, come, my good gentleman," cried Pere Fourchon to Blondet, jumping +into the water and leaving his sabots on the bank, "frighten him! +frighten him! Don't you see him? he is swimming fast your way!" + +The old man dashed toward Blondet through the water, calling out with +the gravity that country people retain in the midst of their greatest +excitements:-- + +"Don't you see him, there, along the rocks?" + +Blondet, placed by direction of the old fellow in such a way that +the sun was in his eyes, thrashed the water with much satisfaction to +himself. + +"Go on, go on!" cried Pere Fourchon; "on the rock side; the burrow is +there, to your left!" + +Carried away by excitement and by his long waiting, Blondet slipped from +the stones into the water. + +"Ha! brave you are, my good gentleman! Twenty good Gods! I see him +between your legs! you'll have him!--Ah! there! he's gone--he's gone!" +cried the old man, in despair. + +Then, in the fury of the chase, the old fellow plunged into the deepest +part of the stream in front of Blondet. + +"It's your fault we've lost him!" he cried, as Blondet gave him a hand +to pull him out, dripping like a triton, and a vanquished triton. "The +rascal, I see him, under those rocks! He has let go his fish," continued +Fourchon, pointing to something that floated on the surface. "We'll have +that at any rate; it's a tench, a real tench." + +Just then a groom in livery on horseback and leading another horse by +the bridle galloped up the road toward Conches. + +"See! there's the chateau people sending after you," said the old man. +"If you want to cross back again I'll give you a hand. I don't mind +about getting wet; it saves washing!" + +"How about rheumatism?" + +"Rheumatism! don't you see the sun has browned our legs, Mouche and me, +like tobacco-pipes. Here, lean on me, my good gentleman--you're from +Paris; you don't know, though you _do_ know so much, how to walk on our +rocks. If you stay here long enough, you'll learn a deal that's +written in the book o' nature,--you who write, so they tell me, in the +newspapers." + +Blondet had reached the bank before Charles, the groom, perceived him. + +"Ah, monsieur!" he cried; "you don't know how anxious Madame has been +since she heard you had gone through the gate of Conches; she was +afraid you were drowned. They have rung the great bell three times, and +Monsieur le cure is hunting for you in the park." + +"What time is it, Charles?" + +"A quarter to twelve." + +"Help me to mount." + +"Ha!" exclaimed the groom, noticing the water that dripped from +Blondet's boots and trousers, "has monsieur been taken in by Pere +Fourchon's otter?" + +The words enlightened the journalist. + +"Don't say a word about it, Charles," he cried, "and I'll make it all +right with you." + +"Oh, as for that!" answered the man, "Monsieur le comte himself has been +taken in by that otter. Whenever a visitor comes to Les Aigues, Pere +Fourchon sets himself on the watch, and if the gentleman goes to see the +sources of the Avonne he sells him the otter; he plays the trick so well +that Monsieur le comte has been here three times and paid him for six +days' work, just to stare at the water!" + +"Heavens!" thought Blondet. "And I imagined I had seen the greatest +comedians of the present day!--Potier, the younger Baptiste, Michot, and +Monrose. What are they compared to that old beggar?" + +"He is very knowing at the business, Pere Fourchon is," continued +Charles; "and he has another string to his bow, besides. He calls +himself a rope-maker, and has a walk under the park wall by the gate of +Blangy. If you merely touch his rope he'll entangle you so cleverly that +you will want to turn the wheel and make a bit of it yourself; and for +that you would have to pay a fee for apprenticeship. Madame herself was +taken in, and gave him twenty francs. Ah! he is the king of tricks, that +old fellow!" + +The groom's gossip set Blondet thinking of the extreme craftiness and +wiliness of the French peasant, of which he had heard a great deal +from his father, a judge at Alencon. Then the satirical meaning hidden +beneath Pere Fourchon's apparent guilelessness came back to him, and he +owned himself "gulled" by the Burgundian beggar. + +"You would never believe, monsieur," said Charles, as they reached the +portico at Les Aigues, "how much one is forced to distrust everybody and +everything in the country,--especially here, where the general is not +much liked--" + +"Why not?" + +"That's more than I know," said Charles, with the stupid air servants +assume to shield themselves when they wish not to answer their +superiors, which nevertheless gave Blondet a good deal to think of. + +"Here you are, truant!" cried the general, coming out on the terrace +when he heard the horses. "Here he is; don't be uneasy!" he called back +to his wife, whose little footfalls were heard behind him. "Now the Abbe +Brossette is missing. Go and find him, Charles," he said to the groom. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE TAVERN + + +The gate of Blangy, built by Bouret, was formed of two wide pilasters +of projecting rough-hewn stone; each surmounted by a dog sitting on his +haunches and holding an escutcheon between his fore paws. The proximity +of a small house where the steward lived dispensed with the necessity +for a lodge. Between the two pilasters, a sumptuous iron gate, like +those made in Buffon's time for the Jardin des Plantes, opened on a +short paved way which led to the country road (formerly kept in order +by Les Aigues and the Soulanges family) which unites Conches, Cerneux, +Blangy, and Soulanges to Ville-aux-Fayes, like a wreath, for the whole +road is lined with flowering hedges and little houses covered with roses +and honey-suckle and other climbing plants. + +There, along a pretty wall which extends as far as a terrace from which +the land of Les Aigues falls rapidly to the valley till it meets that +of Soulanges, are the rotten posts, the old wheel, and the forked stakes +which constituted the manufactory of the village rope-maker. + +Soon after midday, while Blondet was seating himself at table opposite +the Abbe Brossette and receiving the tender expostulations of the +countess, Pere Fourchon and Mouche arrived at this establishment. From +that vantage-ground Pere Fourchon, under pretence of rope-making, could +watch Les Aigues and see every one who went in and out. Nothing escaped +him, the opening of the blinds, tete-a-tete loiterings, or the least +little incidents of country life, were spied upon by the old fellow, +who had set up this business within the last three years,--a trifling +circumstance which neither the masters, nor the servants, nor the +keepers of Les Aigues had as yet remarked upon. + +"Go round to the house by the gate of the Avonne while I put away the +tackle," said Pere Fourchon to his attendant, "and when you have blabbed +about the thing, they'll no doubt send after me to the Grand-I-Vert, +where I am going for a drop of drink,--for it makes one thirsty enough +to wade in the water that way. If you do just as I tell you, you'll hook +a good breakfast out of them; try to meet the countess, and give a slap +at me, and that will put it into her head to come and preach morality or +something! There's lots of good wine to get out of it." + +After these last instructions, which the sly look in Mouche's face +rendered quite superfluous, the old peasant, hugging the otter under his +arm, disappeared along the country road. + +Half-way between the gate and the village there stood, at the time when +Emile Blondet stayed at Les Aigues, one of those houses which are never +seen but in parts of France where stone is scarce. Bits of bricks picked +up anywhere, cobblestones set like diamonds in the clay mud, formed +very solid walls, though worn in places; the roof was supported by stout +branches and covered with rushes and straw, while the clumsy shutters +and the broken door--in short, everything about the cottage was the +product of lucky finds, or of gifts obtained by begging. + +The peasant has an instinct for his habitation like that of an animal +for its nest or its burrow, and this instinct was very marked in all +the arrangements of this cottage. In the first place, the door and the +window looked to the north. The house, placed on a little rise in the +stoniest angle of a vineyard, was certainly healthful. It was reached by +three steps, carefully made with stakes and planks filled in with broken +stone and gravel, so that the water ran off rapidly; and as the rain +seldom comes from the northward in Burgundy, no dampness could rot the +foundations, slight as they were. Below the steps and along the path ran +a rustic paling, hidden beneath a hedge of hawthorn and sweet-brier. +An arbor, with a few clumsy tables and wooden benches, filled the space +between the cottage and the road, and invited the passers-by to rest +themselves. At the upper end of the bank by the house roses grew, and +wall-flowers, violets, and other flowers that cost nothing. Jessamine +and honey-suckle had fastened their tendrils on the roof, mossy already, +though the building was far from old. + +To the right of the house, the owner had built a stable for two cows. In +front of this erection of old boards, a sunken piece of ground served as +a yard where, in a corner, was a huge manure-heap. On the other side of +the house and the arbor stood a thatched shed, supported on trunks of +trees, under which the various outdoor properties of the peasantry were +put away,--the utensils of the vine-dressers, their empty casks, logs +of wood piled about a mound which contained the oven, the mouth of +which opened, as was usual in the houses of the peasantry, under the +mantle-piece of the chimney in the kitchen. + +About an acre of land adjoined the house, inclosed by an evergreen hedge +and planted with grape-vines; tended as peasants tend them,--that is to +say, well-manured, and dug round, and layered so that they usually set +their fruit before the vines of the large proprietors in a circuit of +ten miles round. A few trees, almond, plum, and apricot, showed their +slim heads here and there in this enclosure. Between the rows of vines +potatoes and beans were planted. In addition to all this, on the side +towards the village and beyond the yard was a bit of damp low ground, +favorable for the growth of cabbages and onions (favorite vegetables of +the working-classes), which was closed by a wooden gate, through which +the cows were driven, trampling the path into mud and covering it with +dung. + +The house, which had two rooms on the ground-floor, opened upon the +vineyard. On this side an outer stairway, roofed with thatch and resting +against the wall of the house, led up to the garret, which was lighted +by one round window. Under this rustic stairway opened a cellar built of +Burgundy brick, containing several casks of wine. + +Though the kitchen utensils of the peasantry are usually only two, +namely, a frying-pan and an iron pot, with which they manage to do all +their cooking, exceptions to this rule, in the shape of two enormous +saucepans hanging beneath the mantle-shelf and above a small portable +stove, were to be seen in this cottage. In spite, however, of this +indication of luxury, the furniture was in keeping with the external +appearance of the place. A jar held water, the spoons were of wood or +pewter, the dishes, of red clay without and white within, were scaling +off and had been mended with pewter rivets; the heavy table and chairs +were of pine wood, and for flooring there was nothing better than the +hardened earth. Every fifth year the walls received a coat of white-wash +and so did the narrow beams of the ceiling, from which hung bacon, +strings of onions, bundles of tallow candles, and the bags in which +a peasant keeps his seeds; near the bread-box stood an old-fashioned +wardrobe in walnut, where the scanty household linen, and the one change +of garments together with the holiday attire of the entire family were +kept. + +Above the mantel of the chimney gleamed a poacher's old gun, not worth +five francs,--the wood scorched, the barrel to all appearances never +cleaned. An observer might reflect that the protection of a hovel with +only a latch, and an outer gate that was only a paling and never closed, +needed no better weapon; but still the wonder was to what use it was +put. In the first place, though the wood was of the commonest kind, the +barrel was carefully selected, and came from a valuable gun, given in +all probability to a game-keeper. Moreover, the owner of this weapon +never missed his aim; there was between him and his gun the same +intimate acquaintance that there is between a workman and his tool. If +the muzzle must be raised or lowered the merest fraction in its aim, +because it carries just an atom above or below the range, the poacher +knows it; he obeys the rule and never misses. An officer of artillery +would have found the essential parts of this weapon in good condition +notwithstanding its uncleanly appearance. In all that the peasant +appropriates to his use, in all that serves him, he displays just the +amount of force that is needed, neither more nor less; he attends to +the essential and to nothing beyond. External perfection he has no +conception of. An unerring judge of the necessary in all things, he +thoroughly understands degrees of strength, and knows very well when +working for an employer how to give the least possible for the most he +can get. This contemptible-looking gun will be found to play a serious +part in the life of the family inhabiting this cottage, and you will +presently learn how and why. + +Have you now taken in all the many details of this hovel, planted about +five hundred feet away from the pretty gate of Les Aigues? Do you see it +crouching there, like a beggar beside a palace? Well, its roof covered +with velvet mosses, its clacking hens, its grunting pig, its straying +heifer, all its rural graces have a horrible meaning. + +Fastened to a pole, which was stuck in the ground beside the entrance +through the fence, was a withered bunch of three pine branches and some +old oak-leaves tied together with a rag. Above the door of the house a +roving artist had painted, probably in return for his breakfast, a huge +capital "I" in green on a white ground two feet square; and for the +benefit of those who could read, this witty joke in twelve letters: +"Au Grand-I-Vert" (hiver). On the left of the door was a vulgar sign +bearing, in colored letters, "Good March beer," and the picture of +a foaming pot of the same, with a woman, in a dress excessively +low-necked, on one side, and an hussar on the other,--both coarsely +colored. Consequently, in spite of the blooming flowers and the fresh +country air, this cottage exhaled the same strong and nauseous odor of +wine and food which assails you in Paris as you pass the door of the +cheap cook-shops of the faubourg. + +Now you know the surroundings. Behold the inhabitants and hear their +history, which contains more than one lesson for philanthropists. + +The proprietor of the Grand-I-Vert, named Francois Tonsard, commends +himself to the attention of philosophers by the manner in which he had +solved the problem of an idle life and a busy life, so as to make the +idleness profitable, and occupation nil. + +A jack-of-all-trades, he knew how to cultivate the ground, but for +himself only. For others, he dug ditches, gathered fagots, barked the +trees, or cut them down. In all such work the employer is at the mercy +of the workman. Tonsard owned his plot of ground to the generosity of +Mademoiselle Laguerre. In his early youth he had worked by the day for +the gardener at Les Aigues; and he really had not his equal in +trimming the shrubbery-trees, the hedges, the horn-beams, and the +horse-chestnuts. His very name shows hereditary talent. In remote +country-places privileges exist which are obtained and preserved with +as much care as the merchants of a city display in getting theirs. +Mademoiselle Laguerre was one day walking in the garden, when she +overheard Tonsard, then a strapping fellow, say, "All I need to live on, +and live happily, is an acre of land." The kind creature, accustomed +to make others happy, gave him the acre of vineyard near the gate of +Blangy, in return for one hundred days' work (a delicate regard for his +feelings which was little understood), and allowed him to stay at Les +Aigues, where he lived with her servants, who thought him one of the +best fellows in Burgundy. + +Poor Tonsard (that is what everybody called him) worked about thirty +days out of the hundred that he owed; the rest of the time he idled +about, talking and laughing with Mademoiselle's women, particularly +with Mademoiselle Cochet, the lady's maid, though she was ugly, like +all confidential maids of handsome actresses. Laughing with Mademoiselle +Cochet signified so many things that Soudry, the fortunate gendarme +mentioned in Blondet's letter, still looked askance at Tonsard after +the lapse of nearly twenty-five years. The walnut wardrobe, the bedstead +with the tester and curtains, and the ornaments about the bedroom were +doubtless the result of the said laughter. + +Once in possession of his care, Tonsard replied to the first person +who happened to mention that Mademoiselle Laguerre had given it to him, +"I've bought it deuced hard, and paid well for it. Do rich folks ever +give us anything? Are one hundred days' work nothing? It has cost me +three hundred francs, and the land is all stones." But that speech never +got beyond the regions of his own class. + +Tonsard built his house himself, picking up the materials here and +there as he could,--getting a day's work out of this one and that one, +gleaning in the rubbish that was thrown away, often asking for things +and always obtaining them. A discarded door cut in two for convenience +in carrying away became the door of the stable; the window was the sash +of a green-house. In short, the rubbish of the chateau, served to build +the fatal cottage. + +Saved from the draft by Gaubertin, the steward of Les Aigues, whose +father was prosecuting-attorney of the department, and who, moreover, +could refuse nothing to Mademoiselle Cochet, Tonsard married as soon +as his house was finished and his vines had begun to bear. A well-grown +fellow of twenty-three, in everybody's good graces at Les Aigues, on +whom Mademoiselle had bestowed an acre of her land, and who appeared +to be a good worker, he had the art to ring the praises of his negative +merits, and so obtained the daughter of a farmer on the Ronquerolles +estate, which lies beyond the forest of Les Aigues. + +This farmer held the lease of half a farm, which was going to ruin in +his hands for want of a helpmate. A widower, and inconsolable for the +loss of his wife, he tried to drown his troubles, like the English, in +wine, and then, when he had put the poor deceased out of his mind, he +found himself married, so the village maliciously declared, to a woman +named Boisson. From being a farmer he became once more a laborer, but +an idle and drunken laborer, quarrelsome and vindictive, capable of any +ill-deed, like most of his class when they fall from a well-to-do +state of life into poverty. This man, whose practical information +and knowledge of reading and writing placed him far above his +fellow-workmen, while his vices kept him at the level of pauperism, you +have already seen on the banks of the Avonne, measuring his cleverness +with that of one of the cleverest men in Paris, in a bucolic overlooked +by Virgil. + +Pere Fourchon, formerly a schoolmaster at Blangy, lost that place +through misconduct and his singular ideas as to public education. +He helped the children to make paper boats with their alphabets +much oftener than he taught them how to spell; he scolded them in so +remarkable a manner for pilfering fruit that his lectures might really +have passed for lessons on the best way of scaling the walls. From +teacher he became a postman. In this capacity, which serves as a refuge +to many an old soldier, Pere Fourchon was daily reprimanded. Sometimes +he forgot the letters in a tavern, at other times he kept them in his +pocket. When he was drunk he left those for one village in another +village; when he was sober he read them. Consequently, he was soon +dismissed. No longer able to serve the State, Pere Fourchon ended +by becoming a manufacturer. In the country a poor man can always get +something to do, and make at least a pretence of gaining an honest +livelihood. At sixty-eight years of age the old man started his +rope-walk, a manufactory which requires the very smallest capital. The +workshop is, as we have seen, any convenient wall; the machinery costs +about ten francs. The apprentice slept, like his master, in a hay-loft, +and lived on whatever he could pick up. The rapacity of the law in the +matter of doors and windows expires "sub dio." The tow to make the first +rope can be borrowed. But the principal revenue of Pere Fourchon and his +satellite Mouche, the natural son of one of his natural daughters, came +from the otters; and then there were breakfasts and dinners given them +by peasants who could neither read nor write, and were glad to use the +old fellow's talents when they had a bill to make out, or a letter to +dispatch. Besides all this, he knew how to play the clarionet, and +he went about with his friend Vermichel, the miller of Soulanges, to +village weddings and the grand balls given at the Tivoli of Soulanges. + +Vermichel's name was Michel Vert, but the transposition was so generally +used that Brunet, the clerk of the municipal court of Soulanges, was +in the habit of writing Michel-Jean-Jerome Vert, called Vermichel, +practitioner. Vermichel, a famous violin in the Burgundian regiment of +former days, had procured for Pere Fourchon, in recognition of certain +services, a situation as practitioner, which in remote country-places +usually devolves on those who are able to sign their name. Pere Fourchon +therefore added to his other avocations that of witness, or practitioner +of legal papers, whenever the Sieur Brunet came to draw them in the +districts of Cerneux, Conches, and Blangy. Vermichel and Fourchon, +allied by a friendship of twenty years' tippling, might really be +considered a business firm. + +Mouche and Fourchon, bound together by vice as Mentor and Telemachus +by virtue, travelled like the latter, in search of their father, "panis +angelorum,"--the only Latin words which the old fellow's memory had +retained. They went about scraping up the pickings of the Grand-I-Vert, +and those of the adjacent chateaux; for between them, in their busiest +and most prosperous years, they had never contrived to make as much as +three hundred and sixty fathoms of rope. In the first place, no dealer +within a radius of fifty miles would have trusted his tow to either +Mouche or Fourchon. The old man, surpassing the miracles of modern +chemistry, knew too well how to resolve the tow into the all-benignant +juice of the grape. Moreover, his triple functions of public writer for +three townships, legal practitioner for one, and clarionet-player at +large, hindered, so he said, the development of his business. + +Thus it happened that Tonsard was disappointed from the start in +the hope he had indulged of increasing his comfort by an increase of +property in marriage. The idle son-in-law had chanced, by a very common +accident, on an idler father-in-law. Matters went all the worse because +Tonsard's wife, gifted with a sort of rustic beauty, being tall and +well-made, was not fond of work in the open air. Tonsard blamed his wife +for her father's short-comings, and ill-treated her, with the customary +revenge of the common people, whose minds take in only an effect and +rarely look back to causes. + +Finding her fetters heavy, the woman lightened them. She used Tonsard's +vices to get the better of him. Loving comfort and good eating herself, +she encouraged his idleness and gluttony. In the first place, she +managed to procure the good-will of the servants of the chateau, and +Tonsard, in view of the results, made no complaint as to the means. He +cared very little what his wife did, so long as she did all he wanted +of her. That is the secret agreement of many a household. Madame Tonsard +established the wine-shop of the Grand-I-Vert, her first customers being +the servants of Les Aigues and the keepers and huntsmen. + +Gaubertin, formerly steward to Mademoiselle Laguerre, one of La +Tonsard's chief patrons, gave her several puncheons of excellent wine +to attract custom. The effect of these gifts (continued as long as +Gaubertin remained a bachelor) and the fame of her rather lawless beauty +commended this beauty to the Don Juans of the valley, and filled the +wine-shop of the Grand-I-Vert. Being a lover of good eating, La Tonsard +was naturally an excellent cook; and though her talents were only +exercised on the common dishes of the country, jugged hare, game sauce, +stewed fish and omelets, she was considered in all the country round to +be an admirable cook of the sort of food which is eaten at a counter and +spiced in a way to excite a desire for drink. By the end of two years, +she had managed to rule Tonsard, and turn him to evil courses, which, +indeed, he asked no better than to indulge in. + +The rascal was continually poaching, and with nothing to fear from it. +The intimacies of his wife with Gaubertin and the keepers and the +rural authorities, together with the laxity of the times, secured +him impunity. As soon as his children were large enough he made them +serviceable to his comfort, caring no more for their morality than for +that of his wife. He had two sons and two daughters. Tonsard, who lived, +as did his wife, from hand to mouth, might have come to an end of +this easy life if he had not maintained a sort of martial law over his +family, which compelled them to work for the preservation of it. When he +had brought up his children, at the cost of those from whom his wife was +able to extort gifts, the following charter and budget were the law at +the Grand-I-Vert. + +Tonsard's old mother and his two daughters, Catherine and Marie, went +into the woods at certain seasons twice a-day, and came back laden with +fagots which overhung the crutch of their poles at least two feet beyond +their heads. Though dried sticks were placed on the outside of the heap, +the inside was made of live wood cut from young trees. In plain words, +Tonsard helped himself to his winter's fuel in the woods of Les Aigues. +Besides this, father and sons were constantly poaching. From September +to March, hares, rabbits, partridges, deer, in short, all the game that +was not eaten at the chateau, was sold at Blangy and at Soulanges, where +Tonsard's two daughters peddled milk in the early mornings,--coming back +with the news of the day, in return for the gossip they carried about +Les Aigues, and Cerneux, and Conches. In the months when the three +Tonsards were unable to hunt with a gun, they set traps. If the traps +caught more game than they could eat, La Tonsard made pies of it and +sent them to Ville-aux-Fayes. In harvest-time seven Tonsards--the old +mother, the two sons (until they were seventeen years of age), the two +daughters, together with old Fourchon and Mouche--gleaned, and generally +brought in about sixteen bushels a day of all grains, rye, barley, +wheat, all good to grind. + +The two cows, led to the roadside by the youngest girl, always managed +to stray into the meadows of Les Aigues; but as, if it ever chanced that +some too flagrant trespass compelled the keepers to take notice of it, +the children were either whipped or deprived of a coveted dainty, they +had acquired such extraordinary aptitude in hearing the enemy's footfall +that the bailiff or the park-keeper of Les Aigues was very seldom able +to detect them. Besides, the relations of those estimable functionaries +with Tonsard and his wife tied a bandage over their eyes. The cows, held +by long ropes, obeyed a mere twitch or a special low call back to the +roadside, knowing very well that, the danger once past, they could +finish their browsing in the next field. Old mother Tonsard, who was +getting more and more infirm, succeeded Mouche in his duties, after +Fourchon, under pretence of caring for his natural grandson's education, +kept him to himself; while Marie and Catherine made hay in the woods. +These girls knew the exact spots where the fine forest-grass abounded, +and there they cut and spread and cocked and garnered it, supplying two +thirds, at least, of the winter fodder, and leading the cows on all fine +days to sheltered nooks where they could still find pasture. In certain +parts of the valley of Les Aigues, as in all places protected by a chain +of mountains, in Piedmont and in Lombardy for instance, there are spots +where the grass keeps green all the year. Such fields, called in Italy +"marciti," are of great value; though in France they are often in danger +of being injured by snow and ice. This phenomenon is due, no doubt, to +some favorable exposure, and to the infiltration of water which keeps +the ground at a warmer temperature. + +The calves were sold for about eighty francs. The milk, deducting the +time when the cows calved or went dry, brought in about one hundred and +sixty francs a year besides supplying the wants of the family. Tonsard +himself managed to earn another hundred and sixty by doing odd jobs of +one kind or another. + +The sale of food and wine in the tavern, after all costs were paid, +returned a profit of about three hundred francs, for the great +drinking-bouts happened only at certain times and in certain seasons; +and as the topers who indulged in them gave Tonsard and his wife due +notice, the latter bought in the neighboring town the exact quantity of +provisions needed and no more. The wine produced by Tonsard's vineyard +was sold in ordinary years for twenty francs a cask to a wine-dealer at +Soulanges with whom Tonsard was intimate. In very prolific years he got +as much as twelve casks from his vines; but eight was the average; and +Tonsard kept half for his own traffic. In all wine-growing districts the +gleaning of the large vineyards gives a good perquisite, and out of +it the Tonsard family usually managed to obtain three casks more. But +being, as we have seen, sheltered and protected by the keepers, they +showed no conscience in their proceedings,--entering vineyards +before the harvesters were out of them, just as they swarmed into the +wheat-fields before the sheaves were made. So, the seven or eight casks +of wine, as much gleaned as harvested, were sold for a good price. +However, out of these various proceeds the Grand-I-Vert was mulcted in +a good sum for the personal consumption of Tonsard and his wife, +who wanted the best of everything to eat, and better wine than they +sold,--which they obtained from their friend at Soulanges in payment for +their own. In short, the money scraped together by this family amounted +to about nine hundred francs, for they fattened two pigs a year, one for +themselves and the other to sell. + +The idlers and scapegraces and also the laborers took a fancy to the +tavern of the Grand-I-Vert, partly because of La Tonsard's merits, and +partly on account of the hail-fellow-well-met relation existing between +this family and the lower classes of the valley. The two daughters, both +remarkably handsome, followed the example of their mother as to morals. +Moreover, the long established fame of the Grand-I-Vert, dating from +1795, made it a venerable spot in the eyes of the common people. From +Conches to Ville-aux-Fayes, workmen came there to meet and make their +bargains and hear the news collected by the Tonsard women and by Mouche +and old Fourchon, or supplied by Vermichel and Brunet, that renowned +official, when he came to the tavern in search of his practitioner. +There the price of hay and of wine was settled; also that of a day's +work and of piece-work. Tonsard, a sovereign judge in such matters, +gave his advice and opinion while drinking with his guests. Soulanges, +according to a saying in these parts, was a town for society and +amusement only, while Blangy was a business borough; crushed, however, +by the great commercial centre of Ville-aux-Fayes, which had become in +the last twenty-five years the capital of this flourishing valley. The +cattle and grain market was held at Blangy, in the public square, +and the prices there obtained served as a tariff for the whole +arrondissement. + +By staying in the house and doing no out-door work, La Tonsard continued +fresh and fair and dimpled, in comparison with the women who worked in +the fields and faded as rapidly as the flowers, becoming old and haggard +before they were thirty. She liked to be well-dressed. In point of +fact, she was only clean, but in a village cleanliness is a luxury. The +daughters, better dressed than their means warranted, followed their +mother's example. Beneath their outer garment, which was relatively +handsome, they wore linen much finer than that of the richest peasant +women. On fete-days they appeared in dresses that were really pretty, +obtained, Heaven knows how! For one thing, the men-servants at Les +Aigues sold to them, at prices that were easily paid, the cast-off +clothing of the lady's-maids, which, after sweeping the streets of Paris +and being made over to fit Marie and Catherine, appeared triumphantly in +the precincts of the Grand-I-Vert. These girls, bohemians of the valley, +received not one penny in money from their parents, who gave them +food only, and the wretched pallets on which they slept with their +grandmother in the barn, where their brothers also slept, curled up in +the hay like animals. Neither father nor mother paid any heed to this +propinquity. + +The iron age and the age of gold are more alike than we think for. In +the one nothing aroused vigilance; in the other, everything rouses it; +the result to society is, perhaps, very much the same. The presence of +old Mother Tonsard, which was more a necessity than a precaution, was +simply one immorality the more. And thus it was that the Abbe Brossette, +after studying the morals of his parishioners, made this pregnant remark +to his bishop:-- + +"Monseigneur, when I observe the stress that the peasantry lay on +their poverty, I realize how they fear to lose that excuse for their +immorality." + +Though everybody knew that the family had no principles and no scruples, +nothing was ever said against the morals of the Grand-I-Vert. At the +beginning of this book it is necessary to explain, once for all, to +persons accustomed to the decencies of middle-class life, that the +peasants have no decency in their domestic habits and customs. They +make no appeal to morality when their daughters are seduced, unless the +seducer is rich and timid. Children, until the State takes possession +of them, are used either as capital or as instruments of convenience. +Self-interest has become, specially since 1789, the sole motive of the +masses; they never ask if an action is legal or immoral, but only if it +is profitable. Morality, which is not to be confounded with religion, +begins only at a certain competence,--just as one sees, in a higher +sphere, how delicacy blossoms in the soul when fortune decorates +the furniture. A positively moral and upright man is rare among the +peasantry. Do you ask why? Among the many reasons that may be given for +this state of things, the principal one is this: Through the nature of +their social functions, the peasants live a purely material life which +approximates to that of savages, and their constant union with nature +tends to foster it. When toil exhausts the body it takes from the mind +its purifying action, especially among the ignorant. The Abbe Brossette +was right in saying that the state policy of the peasant is his poverty. + +Meddling in everybody's interests, Tonsard heard everybody's complaints, +and often instigated frauds to benefit the needy. His wife, a kindly +appearing woman, had a good word for evil-doers, and never withheld +either approval or personal help from her customers in anything they +undertook against the rich. This inn, a nest of vipers, brisk and +venomous, seething and active, was a hot-bed for the hatred of the +peasants and the workingmen against the masters and the wealthy. + +The prosperous life of the Tonsards was, therefore, an evil example. +Others asked themselves why they should not take their wood, as the +Tonsards did, from the forest; why not pasture their cows and have game +to eat and to sell as well as they; why not harvest without sowing the +grapes and the grain. Accordingly, the pilfering thefts which thin the +woods and tithe the ploughed lands and meadows and vineyards became +habitual in this valley, and soon existed as a right throughout the +districts of Blangy, Conches, and Cerneux, all adjacent to the domain +of Les Aigues. This sore, for certain reasons which will be given in +due time, did far greater injury to Les Aigues than to the estates of +Ronquerolles or Soulanges. You must not, however, fancy that Tonsard, +his wife and children, and his old mother ever deliberately said to +themselves, "We will live by theft, and commit it as cleverly as we +can." Such habits grow slowly. To the dried sticks they added, in the +first instance, a single bit of good wood; then, emboldened by habit +and a carefully prepared immunity (necessary to plans which this history +will unfold), they ended at last in cutting "their wood," and stealing +almost their entire livelihood. Pasturage for the cows and the abuses of +gleaning were established as customs little by little. When the Tonsards +and the do-nothings of the valley had tasted the sweets of these four +rights (thus captured by rural paupers, and amounting to actual robbery) +we can easily imagine they would never give them up unless compelled by +a power greater than their own audacity. + +At the time when this history begins Tonsard, then about fifty years +of age, tall and strong, rather stout than thin, with curly black hair, +skin highly colored and marbled like a brick with purple blotches, +yellow whites to the eyes, large ears with broad flaps, a muscular +frame, encased, however, in flabby flesh, a retreating forehead, and a +hanging lip,--Tonsard, such as you see him, hid his real character under +an external stupidity, lightened at times by a show of experience, which +seemed all the more intelligent because he had acquired in the company +of his father-in-law a sort of bantering talk, much affected by old +Fourchon and Vermichel. His nose, flattened at the end as if the finger +of God intended to mark him, gave him a voice which came from his +palate, like that of all persons disfigured by a disease which thickens +the nasal passages, through which the air then passes with difficulty. +His upper teeth overlapped each other, and this defect (which Lavater +calls terrible) was all the more apparent because they were as white as +those of a dog. But for a certain lawless and slothful good humor, and +the free-and-easy ways of a rustic tippler, the man would have alarmed +the least observing of spectators. + +If the portraits of Tonsard, his inn, and his father-in-law take a +prominent place in this history, it is because that place belongs to him +and to the inn and to the family. In the first place, their existence, +so minutely described, is the type of a hundred other households in the +valley of Les Aigues. Secondly, Tonsard, without being other than the +instrument of deep and active hatreds, had an immense influence on the +struggle that was about to take place, being the friend and counsellor +of all the complainants of the lower classes. His inn, as we shall +presently see, was the rendezvous for the aggressors; in fact, he became +their chief, partly on account of the fear he inspired throughout the +valley--less, however, by his actual deeds than by those that were +constantly expected of him. The threat of this man was as much dreaded +as the thing threatened, so that he never had occasion to execute it. + +Every revolt, open or concealed, has its banner. The banner of the +marauders, the drunkards, the idlers, the sluggards of the valley des +Aigues was the terrible tavern of the Grand-I-Vert. Its frequenters +found amusement there,--as rare and much-desired a thing in the country +as in a city. Moreover, there was no other inn along the country-road +for over twelve miles, a distance which conveyances (even when laden) +could easily do in three hours; so that those who went from Conches to +Ville-aux-Fayes always stopped at the Grand-I-Vert, if only to refresh +themselves. The miller of Les Aigues, who was also assistant-mayor, and +his men came there. The grooms and valets of the general were not averse +to Tonsard's wine, rendered attractive by Tonsard's daughters; so the +Grand-I-Vert held subterraneous communication with the chateau through +the servants, and knew immediately everything that they knew. It is +impossible either by benefits or through their own self-interests, to +break up the perpetual understanding that exists between the servants of +a household and the people from whom they come. Domestic service is of +the masses, and to the masses it will ever remain attached. This fatal +comradeship explains the reticence of the last words of Charles the +groom, as he and Blondet reached the portico of the chateau. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. ANOTHER IDYLL + + +"Ha! by my pipe, papa!" exclaimed Tonsard, seeing his father-in-law as +the old man entered and supposing him in quest of food, "your stomach +is lively this morning! We haven't anything to give you. How about that +rope,--the rope, you know, you were to make for us? It is amazing how +much you make over night and how little there is made in the morning! +You ought long ago to have twisted the one that is to twist you out of +existence; you are getting too costly for us." + +The wit of a peasant or laborer is very Attic; it consists in speaking +out his mind and giving it a grotesque expression. We find the same +thing in a drawing-room. Delicacy of wit takes the place of picturesque +vulgarity, and that is really all the difference there is. + +"That's enough for the father-in-law!" said the old man. "Talk business; +I want a bottle of the best." + +So saying, Fourchon rapped a five-franc piece that gleamed in his hand +on the old table at which he was seated,--which, with its coating of +grease, its scorched black marks, its wine stains, and its gashes, was +singular to behold. At the sound of coin Marie Tonsard, as trig as a +sloop about to start on a cruise, glanced at her grandfather with a +covetous look that shot from her eyes like a spark. La Tonsard came out +of her bedroom, attracted by the music of metal. + +"You are always rough to my poor father," she said to her husband, "and +yet he has earned a deal of money this year; God grant he came by +it honestly. Let me see that," she added, springing at the coin and +snatching it from Fourchon's fingers. + +"Marie," said Tonsard, gravely, "above the board you'll find some +bottled wine. Go and get a bottle." + +Wine is of only one quality in the country, but it is sold as of two +kinds,--cask wine and bottled wine. + +"Where did you get this, papa" demanded La Tonsard, slipping the coin +into her pocket. + +"Philippine! you'll come to a bad end," said the old man, shaking his +head but not attempting to recover his money. Doubtless he had long +realized the futility of a struggle between his daughter, his terrible +son-in-law, and himself. + +"Another bottle of wine for which you get five francs out of me," he +added, in a peevish tone. "But it shall be the last. I shall give my +custom to the Cafe de la Paix." + +"Hold your tongue, papa!" remarked his fair and fat daughter, who bore +some resemblance to a Roman matron. "You need a shirt, and a pair of +clean trousers, and a hat; and I want to see you with a waistcoat. +That's what I take the money for." + +"I have told you again and again that such things would ruin me," said +the old man. "People would think me rich and stop giving me anything." + +The bottle brought by Marie put an end to the loquacity of the old man, +who was not without that trait, characteristic of those whose tongues +are ready to tell out everything, and who shrink from no expression of +their thought, no matter how atrocious it may be. + +"Then you don't want to tell where you filched that money?" said +Tonsard. "We might go and get more where that came from,--the rest of +us." + +He was making a snare, and as he finished it the ferocious innkeeper +happened to glance at his father-in-law's trousers, and there he spied a +raised round spot which clearly defined a second five-franc piece. + +"Having become a capitalist I drink your health," said Pere Fourchon. + +"If you choose to be a capitalist you can be," said Tonsard; "you have +the means, you have! But the devil has bored a hole in the back of your +head through which everything runs out." + +"Hey! I only played the otter trick on that young fellow they have got +at Les Aigues. He's from Paris. That's all there is to it." + +"If crowds of people would come to see the sources of the Avonne, you'd +be rich, Grandpa Fourchon," said Marie. + +"Yes," he said, drinking the last glassful the bottle contained, "and +I've played the sham otter so long, the live otters have got angry, and +one of them came right between my legs to-day; Mouche caught it, and I +am to get twenty francs for it." + +"I'll bet your otter is made of tow," said Tonsard, looking slyly at his +father-in-law. + +"If you will give me a pair of trousers, a waistcoat, and some list +braces, so as not to disgrace Vermichel on the music stand at Tivoli +(for old Socquard is always scolding about my clothes), I'll let you +keep that money, my daughter; your idea is a good one. I can squeeze +that rich young fellow at Les Aigues; may be he'll take to otters." + +"Go and get another bottle," said Tonsard to his daughter. "If your +father really had an otter, he would show it to us," he added, speaking +to his wife and trying to touch up Fourchon. + +"I'm too afraid it would get into your frying-pan," said the old man, +winking one of his little green eyes at his daughter. "Philippine has +already hooked my five-franc piece; and how many more haven't you bagged +under pretence of clothing me and feeding me? and now you say that my +stomach is too lively, and that I go half-naked." + +"You sold your last clothes to drink boiled wine at the Cafe de la Paix, +papa," said his daughter, "though Vermichel tried to prevent it." + +"Vermichel! the man I treated! Vermichel is incapable of betraying my +friendship. It must have been that lump of old lard on two legs that he +is not ashamed to call his wife!" + +"He or she," replied Tonsard, "or Bonnebault." + +"If it was Bonnebault," cried Fourchon, "he who is one of the pillars of +the place, I'll--I'll--Enough!" + +"You old sot, what has all that got to do with having sold your clothes? +You sold them because you did sell them; you're of age!" said Tonsard, +slapping the old man's knee. "Come, do honor to my drink and redden up +your throat! The father of Mam Tonsard has a right to do so; and isn't +that better than spending your silver at Socquard's?" + +"What a shame it is that you have been fifteen years playing for people +to dance at Tivoli and you have never yet found out how Socquard cooks +his wine,--you who are so shrewd!" said his daughter; "and yet you +know very well that if we had the secret we should soon get as rich as +Rigou." + +Throughout the Morvan, and in that region of Burgundy which lies at its +feet on the side toward Paris, this boiled wine with which Mam Tonsard +reproached her father is a rather costly beverage which plays a great +part in the life of the peasantry, and is made by all grocers and +wine-dealers, and wherever a drinking-shop exists. This precious liquor, +made of choice wine, sugar, and cinnamon and other spices, is +preferable to all those disguises or mixtures of brandy called ratafia, +one-hundred-and-seven, brave man's cordial, black currant wine, +vespetro, spirit-of-sun, etc. Boiled wine is found throughout France and +Switzerland. Among the Jura, and in the wild districts trodden only by a +few special tourists, the innkeepers call it, on the word of commercial +travellers, the wine of Syracuse. Excellent it is, however, and their +guests, hungry as hounds after ascending the surrounding peaks, very +gladly pay three and four francs a bottle for it. In the homes of the +Morvan and in Burgundy the least illness or the slightest agitation of +the nerves is an excuse for boiled wine. Before and after childbirth the +women take it with the addition of burnt sugar. Boiled wine has soaked +up the property of many a peasant, and more than once the seductive +liquid has been the cause of marital chastisement. + +"Ha! there's no chance of grabbing that secret," replied Fourchon, +"Socquard always locks himself in when he boils his wine; he never told +how he does it to his late wife. He sends to Paris for his materials." + +"Don't plague your father," cried Tonsard; "doesn't he know? well, then, +he doesn't know! People can't know everything!" + +Fourchon grew very uneasy on seeing how his son-in-law's countenance +softened as well as his words. + +"What do you want to rob me of now?" he asked, candidly. + +"I?" said Tonsard, "I take none but my legitimate dues; if I get +anything from you it is in payment of your daughter's portion, which you +promised me and never paid." + +Fourchon, reassured by the harshness of this remark, dropped his head on +his breast as though vanquished and convinced. + +"Look at that pretty snare," resumed Tonsard, coming up to his +father-in-law and laying the trap upon his knee. "Some of these days +they'll want game at Les Aigues, and we shall sell them their own, or +there will be no good God for the poor folks." + +"A fine piece of work," said the old man, examining the mischievous +machine. + +"It is very well to pick up the sous now, papa," said Mam Tonsard, "but +you know we are to have our share in the cake of Les Aigues." + +"Oh, what chatterers women are!" cried Tonsard. "If I am hanged it won't +be for a shot from my gun, but for the gabble of your tongue." + +"And do you really suppose that Les Aigues will be cut up and sold in +lots for your pitiful benefit?" asked Fourchon. "Pshaw! haven't you +discovered in the last thirty years that old Rigou has been sucking the +marrow out of your bones that the middle-class folks are worse than +the lords? Mark my words, when that affair happens, my children, the +Soudrys, the Gaubertins, the Rigous, will make you kick your heels in +the air. 'I've the good tobacco, it never shall be thine,' that's +the national air of the rich man, hey? The peasant will always be +the peasant. Don't you see (but you never did understand anything of +politics!) that government puts such heavy taxes on wine only to hinder +our profits and keep us poor? The middle classes and the government, +they are all one. What would become of them if everybody was rich? Could +they till their fields? Would they gather the harvest? No, they +_want_ the poor! I was rich for ten years and I know what I thought of +paupers." + +"Must hunt with them, though," replied Tonsard, "because they mean to +cut up the great estates; after that's done, we can turn against them. +If I'd been Courtecuisse, whom that scoundrel Rigou is ruining, I'd have +long ago paid his bill with other balls than the poor fellow gives him." + +"Right enough, too," replied Fourchon. "As Pere Niseron says (and he +stayed republican long after everybody else), 'The people are tough; +they don't die; they have time before them.'" + +Fourchon fell into a sort of reverie; Tonsard profited by his +inattention to take back the trap, and as he took it up he cut a slip +below the coin in his father-in-law's pocket at the moment when the old +man raised his glass to his lips; then he set his foot on the five-franc +piece as it dropped on the earthen floor just where it was always kept +damp by the heel-taps which the customers flung from their glasses. +Though quickly and lightly done, the old man might, perhaps, have felt +the theft, if Vermichel had not happened to appear at that moment. + +"Tonsard, do you know where you father is?" called that functionary from +the foot of the steps. + +Vermichel's shout, the theft of the money, and the emptying of old +Fourchon's glass, were simultaneous. + +"Present, captain!" cried Fourchon, holding out a hand to Vermichel to +help him up the steps. + +Of all Burgundian figures, Vermichel would have seemed to you the most +Burgundian. The practitioner was not red, he was scarlet. His face, like +certain tropical portions of the globe, was fissured, here and there, +with small extinct volcanoes, defined by flat and greenish patches which +Fourchon called, not unpoetically, the "flowers of wine." This fiery +face, the features of which were swelled out of shape by continual +drunkenness, looked cyclopic; for it was lighted on the right side by a +gleaming eye, and darkened on the other by a yellow patch over the left +orb. Red hair, always tousled, and a beard like that of Judas, made +Vermichel as formidable in appearance as he was meek in reality. His +prominent nose looked like an interrogation-mark, to which the wide-slit +mouth seemed to be always answering, even when it did not open. +Vermichel, a short man, wore hob-nail shoes, bottle-green velveteen +trousers, an old waistcoat patched with diverse stuffs which seemed +to have been originally made of a counterpane, a jacket of coarse blue +cloth and a gray hat with a broad brim. All this luxury, required by the +town of Soulanges where Vermichel fulfilled the combined functions of +porter at the town-hall, drummer, jailer, musician, and practitioner, +was taken care of by Madame Vermichel, an alarming antagonist of +Rabelaisian philosophy. This virago with moustachios, about one yard in +width and one hundred and twenty kilograms in weight (but very active), +ruled Vermichel with a rod of iron. Thrashed by her when drunk, he +allowed her to thrash him still when sober; which caused Pere Fourchon +to say, with a sniff at Vermichel's clothes, "It is the livery of a +slave." + +"Talk of the sun and you'll see its beams," cried Fourchon, repeating a +well-worn allusion to the rutilant face of Vermichel, which really did +resemble those copper suns painted on tavern signs in the provinces. +"Has Mam Vermichel spied too much dust on your back, that you're running +away from your four-fifths,--for I can't call her your better half, that +woman! What brings you here at this hour, drum-major?" + +"Politics, always politics," replied Vermichel, who seemed accustomed to +such pleasantries. + +"Ah! business is bad in Blangy, and there'll be notes to protest, and +writs to issue," remarked Pere Fourchon, filling a glass for his friend. + +"That APE of ours is right behind me," replied Vermichel, with a +backward gesture. + +In workmen's slang "ape" meant master. The word belonged to the +dictionary of the worthy pair. + +"What's Monsieur Brunet coming bothering about here?" asked Tonsard. + +"Hey, by the powers, you folks!" said Vermichel, "you've brought him in +for the last three years more than you are worth. Ha! that master at Les +Aigues, he has his eye upon you; he'll punch you in the ribs; he's after +you, the Shopman! Brunet says, if there were three such landlords in the +valley his fortune would be made." + +"What new harm are they going to do to the poor?" asked Marie. + +"A pretty wise thing for themselves," replied Vermichel. "Faith! you'll +have to give in, in the end. How can you help it? They've got the +power. For the last two years haven't they had three foresters and a +horse-patrol, all as active as ants, and a field-keeper who is a terror? +Besides, the gendarmerie is ready to do their dirty work at any time. +They'll crush you--" + +"Bah!" said Tonsard, "we are too flat. That which can't be crushed isn't +the trees, it's ground." + +"Don't you trust to that," said Fourchon to his son-in-law; "you own +property." + +"Those rich folks must love you," continued Vermichel, "for they think +of nothing else from morning till night! They are saying to themselves +now like this: 'Their cattle eat up our pastures; we'll seize their +cattle; they can't eat grass themselves.' You've all been condemned, the +warrants are out, and they have told our ape to take your cows. We are +to begin this morning at Conches by seizing old mother Bonnebault's cow +and Godin's cow and Mitant's cow." + +The moment the name of Bonnebault was mentioned, Marie, who was in love +with the old woman's grandson, sprang into the vineyard with a nod to +her father and mother. She slipped like an eel through a break in the +hedge, and was off on the way to Conches with the speed of a hunted +hare. + +"They'll do so much," remarked Tonsard, tranquilly, "that they'll get +their bones broken; and that will be a pity, for their mothers can't +make them any new ones." + +"Well, perhaps so," said old Fourchon, "but see here, Vermichel, I can't +go with you for an hour or more, for I have important business at the +chateau." + +"More important than serving three warrants at five sous each? 'You +shouldn't spit into the vintage,' as Father Noah says." + +"I tell you, Vermichel, that my business requires me to go to the +chateau des Aigues," repeated the old man, with an air of laughable +self-importance. + +"And anyhow," said Mam Tonsard, "my father had better keep out of the +way. Do you really mean to find the cows?" + +"Monsieur Brunet, who is a very good fellow, would much rather find +nothing but their dung," answered Vermichel. "A man who is obliged to be +out and about day and night had better be careful." + +"If he is, he has good reason to be," said Tonsard, sententiously. + +"So," continued Vermichel, "he said to Monsieur Michaud, 'I'll go as +soon as the court is up.' If he had wanted to find the cows he'd have +gone at seven o'clock in the morning. But that didn't suit Michaud, +and Brunet has had to be off. You can't take in Michaud, he's a trained +hound! Ha, the brigand!" + +"Ought to have stayed in the army, a swaggerer like that," said Tonsard; +"he is only fit to deal with enemies. I wish he would come and ask me my +name. He may call himself a veteran of the young guard, but I know +very well that if I measured spurs with him, I'd keep my feathers up +longest." + +"Look here!" said Mam Tonsard to Vermichel, "when are the notices for +the ball at Soulanges coming out? Here it is the eighth of August." + +"I took them yesterday to Monsieur Bournier at Ville-aux-Fayes, to be +printed," replied Vermichel; "they do talk of fireworks on the lake." + +"What crowds of people we shall have!" cried Fourchon. + +"Profits for Socquard!" said Tonsard, spitefully. + +"If it doesn't rain," said his wife, by way of comfort. + +At this moment the trot of a horse coming from the direction of +Soulanges was heard, and five minutes later the sheriff's officer +fastened his horse to a post placed for the purpose near the wicket gate +through which the cows were driven. Then he showed his head at the door +of the Grand-I-Vert. + +"Come, my boys, let's lose no time," he said, pretending to be in a +hurry. + +"Hey!" said Vermichel. "Here's a refractory, Monsieur Brunet; Pere +Fourchon wants to drop off." + +"He has had too many drops already," said the sheriff; "but the law in +this case does not require that he shall be sober." + +"Please excuse me, Monsieur Brunet," said Fourchon, "I am expected at +Les Aigues on business; they are in treaty for an otter." + +Brunet, a withered little man dressed from head to foot in black cloth, +with a bilious skin, a furtive eye, curly hair, lips tight-drawn, +pinched nose, anxious expression, and gruff in speech, exhibited the +phenomenon of a character and bearing in perfect harmony with his +profession. He was so well-informed as to the law, or, to speak more +correctly, the quibbles of the law, that he had come to be both the +terror and the counsellor of the whole canton. He was not without a +certain popularity among the peasantry, from whom he usually took his +pay in kind. The compound of his active and negative qualities and his +knowledge of how to manage matters got him the custom of the canton, +to the exclusion of his coadjutor Plissoud, about whom we shall have +something to say later. This chance combination of a sheriff's officer +who does everything and a sheriff's officer who does nothing is not at +all uncommon in the country justice courts. + +"So matters are getting warm, are they?" said Tonsard to little Brunet. + +"What can you expect? you pilfer the man too much, and he's going to +protect himself," replied the officer. "It will be a bad business for +you in the end; government will interfere." + +"Then we, poor unfortunates, must give up the ghost!" said Mam Tonsard, +offering him a glass of brandy on a saucer. + +"The unfortunate may all die, yet they'll never be lacking in the land," +said Fourchon, sententiously. + +"You do great damage to the woods," retorted the sheriff. + +"Now don't believe that, Monsieur Brunet," said Mam Tonsard; "they make +such a fuss about a few miserable fagots!" + +"We didn't crush the rich low enough during the Revolution, that's +what's the trouble," said Tonsard. + +Just then a horrible, and quite incomprehensible noise was heard. It +seemed to be a rush of hurried feet, accompanied with a rattle of arms, +half-drowned by the rustling of leaves, the dragging of branches, and +the sound of still more hasty feet. Two voices, as different as the two +footsteps, were venting noisy exclamations. Everybody inside the +inn guessed at once that a man was pursuing a woman; but why? The +uncertainty did not last long. + +"It is mother!" said Tonsard, jumping up; "I know her shriek." + +Then suddenly, rushing up the broken steps of the Grand-I-Vert by a +last effort that can be made only by the sinews of smugglers, old Mother +Tonsard fell flat on the floor in the middle of the room. The immense +mass of wood she carried on her head made a terrible noise as it crashed +against the top of the door and then upon the ground. Every one had +jumped out of the way. The table, the bottles, the chairs were knocked +over and scattered. The noise was as great as if the cottage itself had +come tumbling down. + +"I'm dead! The scoundrel has killed me!" + +The words and the flight of the old woman were explained by the +apparition on the threshold of a keeper, dressed in green livery, +wearing a hat edged with silver cord, a sabre at his side, a leathern +shoulder-belt bearing the arms of Montcornet charged with those of the +Troisvilles, the regulation red waistcoat, and buckskin gaiters which +came above the knee. + +After a moment's hesitation the keeper said, looking at Brunet and +Vermichel, "Here are witnesses." + +"Witnesses of what?" said Tonsard. + +"That woman has a ten-year-old oak, cut into logs, inside those fagots; +it is a regular crime!" + +The moment the word "witness" was uttered Vermichel thought best to +breathe the fresh air of the vineyard. + +"Of what? witnesses of what?" cried Tonsard, standing in front of the +keeper while his wife helped up the old woman. "Do you mean to show +your claws, Vatel? Accuse persons and arrest them on the highway, +brigand,--that's your domain; but get out of here! A man's house is his +castle." + +"I caught her in the act, and your mother must come with me." + +"Arrest my mother in my house? You have no right to do it. My house is +inviolable,--all the world knows that, at least. Have you got a warrant +from Monsieur Guerbet, the magistrate? Ha! you must have the law behind +you before you come in here. You are not the law, though you have sworn +an oath to starve us to death, you miserable forest-gauger, you!" + +The fury of the keeper waxed so hot that he was on the point of seizing +hold of the wood, when the old woman, a frightful bit of black parchment +endowed with motion, the like of which can be seen only in David's +picture of "The Sabines," screamed at him, "Don't touch it, or I'll fly +at your eyes!" + +"Well, then, undo that pile in presence of Monsieur Brunet," said the +keeper. + +Though the sheriff's officer had assumed the indifference that the +routine of business does really give to officials of his class, he threw +a glance at Tonsard and his wife which said plainly, "A bad business!" +Old Fourchon looked at his daughter, and slyly pointed at a pile of +ashes in the chimney. Mam Tonsard, who understood in a moment from that +significant gesture both the danger of her mother-in-law and the advice +of her father, seized a handful of ashes and flung them in the keeper's +eyes. Vatel roared with pain; Tonsard pushed him roughly upon the broken +door-steps where the blinded man stumbled and fell, and then rolled +nearly down to the gate, dropping his gun on the way. In an instant the +load of sticks was unfastened, and the oak logs pulled out and hidden +with a rapidity no words can describe. Brunet, anxious not to witness +this manoeuvre, which he readily foresaw, rushed after the keeper to +help him up; then he placed him on the bank and wet his handkerchief in +water to wash the eyes of the poor fellow, who, in spite of his agony, +was trying to reach the brook. + +"You are in the wrong, Vatel," said Brunet; "you have no right to enter +houses, don't you see?" + +The old woman, a little hump-backed creature, stood on the sill of the +door, with her hands on her hips, darting flashes from her eyes and +curses from her foaming lips shrill enough to be heard at Blangy. + +"Ha! the villain, 'twas well done! May hell get you! To suspect me of +cutting trees!--_me_, the most honest woman in the village. To hunt me +like vermin! I'd like to see you lose your cursed eyes, for then we'd +have peace. You are birds of ill-omen, the whole of you; you invent +shameful stories to stir up strife between your master and us." + +The keeper allowed the sheriff to bathe his eyes and all the while the +latter kept telling him that he was legally wrong. + +"The old thief! she has tired us out," said Vatel at last. "She has been +at work in the woods all night." + +As the whole family had taken an active hand in hiding the live wood and +putting things straight in the cottage, Tonsard presently appeared at +the door with an insolent air. "Vatel, my man, if you ever again dare +to force your way into my domain, my gun shall answer you," he said. +"To-day you have had the ashes; the next time you shall have the fire. +You don't know your own business. That's enough. Now if you feel hot +after this affair take some wine, I offer it to you; and you may come +in and see that my old mother's bundle of fagots hadn't a scrap of live +wood in it; it is every bit brushwood." + +"Scoundrel!" said the keeper to the sheriff, in a low voice, more +enraged by this speech than by the smart of his eyes. + +Just then Charles, the groom, appeared at the gate of the Grand-I-Vert. + +"What is the matter, Vatel?" he said. + +"Ah!" said the keeper, wiping his eyes, which he had plunged wide open +into the rivulet to give them a final cleansing. "I have some debtors in +there that I'll cause to rue the day they saw the light." + +"If you take it that way, Monsieur Vatel," said Tonsard, coldly, "you +will find we don't want for courage in Burgundy." + +Vatel departed. Not feeling much curiosity to know what the trouble was, +Charles went up the steps and looked into the house. + +"Come to the chateau, you and your otter,--if you really have one," he +said to Pere Fourchon. + +The old man rose hurriedly and followed him. + +"Well, where is it,--that otter of yours?" said Charles, smiling +doubtfully. + +"This way," said the old fellow, going toward the Thune. + +The name is that of a brook formed by the overflow of the mill-race and +of certain springs in the park of Les Aigues. It runs by the side of the +county road as far as the lakelet of Soulanges, which it crosses, and +then falls into the Avonne, after feeding the mills and ponds on the +Soulanges estate. + +"Here it is; I hid it in the brook, with a stone around its neck." + +As he stooped and rose again the old man missed the coin out of his +pocket, where metal was so uncommon that he was likely to notice its +presence or its absence immediately. + +"Ah, the sharks!" he cried. "If I hunt otters they hunt fathers-in-law! +They get out of me all I earn, and tell me it is for my good! If it +were not for my poor Mouche, who is the comfort of my old age, I'd +drown myself. Children! they are the ruin of their fathers. You haven't +married, have you, Monsieur Charles? Then don't; never get married, +and then you can't reproach yourself for spreading bad blood. I, who +expected to buy my tow with that money, and there it is filched, stolen! +That monsieur up at Les Aigues, a fine young fellow, gave me ten francs; +ha! well! it'll put up the price of my otter now." + +Charles distrusted the old man so profoundly that he took his grievances +(this time very sincere) for the preliminary of what he called, in +servant's slang, "varnish," and he made the great mistake of letting +his opinion appear in a satirical grin, which the spiteful old fellow +detected. + +"Come, come! Pere Fourchon, now behave yourself; you are going to see +Madame," said Charles, noticing how the rubies flashed on the nose and +cheeks of the old drunkard. + +"I know how to attend to business, Charles; and the proof is that if you +will get me out of the kitchen the remains of the breakfast and a bottle +or two of Spanish wine, I'll tell you something which will save you from +a 'foul.'" + +"Tell me, and Francois shall get Monsieur's own order to give you a +glass of wine," said the groom. + +"Promise?" + +"I promise." + +"Well then, I know you meet my granddaughter Catherine under the bridge +of the Avonne. Godain is in love with her; he saw you, and he is fool +enough to be jealous,--I say fool, for a peasant oughtn't to have +feelings which belong only to rich folks. If you go to the ball of +Soulanges at Tivoli and dance with her, you'll dance higher than you'll +like. Godain is rich and dangerous; he is capable of breaking your arm +without your getting a chance to arrest him." + +"That would be too dear; Catherine is a fine girl, but she is not worth +all that," replied Charles. "Why should Godain be so angry? others are +not." + +"He loves her enough to marry her." + +"If he does, he'll beat her," said Charles. + +"I don't know about that," said the old man. "She takes after her +mother, against whom Tonsard never raised a finger,--he's too afraid +she'll be off, hot foot. A woman who knows how to hold her own is mighty +useful. Besides, if it came to fisticuffs with Catherine, Godain, though +he's pretty strong, wouldn't give the last blow." + +"Well, thank you, Pere Fourchon; here's forty sous to drink my health in +case I can't get you the sherry." + +Pere Fourchon turned his head aside as he pocketed the money lest +Charles should see the expression of amusement and sarcasm which he was +unable to repress. + +"Catherine," he resumed, "is a proud minx; she likes sherry. You had +better tell her to go and get it at Les Aigues." + +Charles looked at Pere Fourchon with naive admiration, not suspecting +the eager interest the general's enemies took in slipping one more spy +into the chateau. + +"The general ought to feel happy now," continued Fourchon; "the peasants +are all quiet. What does he say? Is he satisfied with Sibilet?" + +"It is only Monsieur Michaud who finds fault with Sibilet. They say +he'll get him sent away." + +"Professional jealousy!" exclaimed Fourchon. "I'll bet you would like to +get rid of Francois and take his place." + +"Hang it! he has twelve hundred francs wages," said Charles; "but they +can't send him off,--he knows the general's secrets." + +"Just as Madame Michaud knows the countess's," remarked Fourchon, +watching the other carefully. "Look here, my boy, do you know whether +Monsieur and Madame have separate rooms?" + +"Of course; if they didn't, Monsieur wouldn't be so fond of Madame." + +"Is that all you know?" said Fourchon. + +As they were now before the kitchen windows nothing more was said. + + + + +CHAPTER V. ENEMIES FACE TO FACE + + +While breakfast was in progress at the chateau, Francois, the head +footman, whispered to Blondet, but loud enough for the general to +overhear him,-- + +"Monsieur, Pere Fourchon's boy is here; he says they have caught the +otter, and wants to know if you would like it, or whether they shall +take it to the sub-prefect at Ville-aux-Fayes." + +Emile Blondet, though himself a past-master of hoaxing, could not keep +his cheeks from blushing like those of a virgin who hears an indecorous +story of which she knows the meaning. + +"Ha! ha! so you have hunted the otter this morning with Pere Fourchon?" +cried the general, with a roar of laughter. + +"What is it?" asked the countess, uneasy at her husband's laugh. + +"When a man of wit and intelligence is taken in by old Fourchon," +continued the general, "a retired cuirassier need not blush for having +hunted that otter; which bears an enormous resemblance to the third +posthorse we are made to pay for and never see." With that he went off +into further explosions of laughter, in the midst of which he contrived +to say: "I am not surprised you had to change your boots--and your +trousers; I have no doubt you have been wading! The joke didn't go as +far as that with me,--I stayed on the bank; but then, you know, you are +so much more intelligent than I--" + +"But you forget," interrupted Madame de Montcornet, "that I do not know +what you are talking of." + +At these words, said with some pique, the general grew serious, and +Blondet told the story of his fishing for the otter. + +"But if they really have an otter," said the countess, "those poor +people are not to blame." + +"Oh, but it is ten years since an otter has been seen about here," said +the pitiless general. + +"Monsieur le comte," said Francois, "the boy swears by all that's sacred +that he has got one." + +"If they have one I'll buy it," said the general. + +"I don't suppose," remarked the Abbe Brossette, "that God has condemned +Les Aigues to never have otters." + +"Ah, Monsieur le cure!" cried Blondet, "if you bring the Almighty +against me--" + +"But what is all this? Who is here?" said the countess, hastily. + +"Mouche, madame,--the boy who goes about with old Fourchon," said the +footman. + +"Bring him in--that is, if Madame will allow it?" said the general; "he +may amuse you." + +Mouche presently appeared, in his usual state of comparative nudity. +Beholding this personification of poverty in the middle of this +luxurious dining-room, the cost of one panel of which would have been a +fortune to the bare-legged, bare-breasted, and bare-headed child, it +was impossible not to be moved by an impulse of charity. The boy's eyes, +like blazing coals, gazed first at the luxuries of the room, and then at +those on the table. + +"Have you no mother?" asked Madame de Montcornet, unable otherwise to +explain the child's nakedness. + +"No, ma'am; m'ma died of grief for losing p'pa, who went to the army +in 1812 without marrying her with papers, and got frozen, saving your +presence. But I've my Grandpa Fourchon, who is a good man,--though he +does beat me bad sometimes." + +"How is it, my dear, that such wretched people can be found on your +estate?" said the countess, looking at the general. + +"Madame la comtesse," said the abbe, "in this district we have none but +voluntary paupers. Monsieur le comte does all he can; but we have to do +with a class of persons who are without religion and who have but one +idea, that of living at your expense." + +"But, my dear abbe," said Blondet, "you are here to improve their +morals." + +"Monsieur," replied the abbe, "my bishop sent me here as if on a mission +to savages; but, as I had the honor of telling him, the savages of +France cannot be reached. They make it a law unto themselves not to +listen to us; whereas the church does get some hold on the savages of +America." + +"M'sieur le cure, they do help me a bit now," remarked Mouche; "but if I +went to your church they _wouldn't_, and the other folks would make game +of my breeches." + +"Religion ought to begin by giving him trousers, my dear abbe," said +Blondet. "In your foreign missions don't you begin by coaxing the +savages?" + +"He would soon sell them," answered the abbe, in a low tone; "besides, +my salary does not enable me to begin on that line." + +"Monsieur le cure is right," said the general, looking at Mouche. + +The policy of the little scamp was to appear not to hear what they were +saying when it was against himself. + +"The boy is intelligent enough to know good from evil," continued the +count, "and he is old enough to work; yet he thinks of nothing but how +to commit evil without being found out. All the keepers know him. He is +very well aware that the master of an estate may witness a trespass +on his property and yet have no right to arrest the trespasser. I have +known him keep his cows boldly in my meadows, though he knew I saw him; +but now, ever since I have been mayor, he runs away fast enough." + +"Oh, that is very wrong," said the countess; "you should not take other +people's things, my little man." + +"Madame, we must eat. My grandpa gives me more slaps than food, and they +don't fill my stomach, slaps don't. When the cows come in I milk 'em +just a little and I live on that. Monseigneur isn't so poor but what +he'll let me drink a drop o' milk the cows get from his grass?" + +"Perhaps he hasn't eaten anything to-day," said the countess, touched by +his misery. "Give him some bread and the rest of that chicken; let him +have his breakfast," she added, looking at the footman. "Where do you +sleep, my child?" + +"Anywhere, madame; under the stars in summer, and wherever they'll let +us in winter." + +"How old are you?" + +"Twelve." + +"There is still time to bring him up to better ways," said the countess +to her husband. + +"He will make a good soldier," said the general, gruffly; "he is well +toughened. I went through that kind of thing myself, and here I am." + +"Excuse me, general, I don't belong to nobody," said the boy. "I can't +be drafted. My poor mother wasn't married, and I was born in a field. +I'm a son of the 'airth,' as grandpa says. M'ma saved me from the army, +that she did! My name ain't no more Mouche than nothing at all. Grandpa +keeps telling me all my advantages. I'm not on the register, and when +I'm old enough to be drafted I can go all over France and they can't +take me." + +"Are you fond of your grandfather?" said the countess, trying to look +into the child's heart. + +"My! doesn't he box my ears when he feels like it! but then, after all, +he's such fun; he's such good company! He says he pays himself that way +for having taught me to read and write." + +"Can you read?" asked the count. + +"Yah, I should think so, Monsieur le comte, and fine writing too--just +as true as we've got that otter." + +"Read that," said the count, giving him a newspaper. + +"The Qu-o-ti-dienne," read Mouche, hesitating only three times. + +Every one, even the abbe, laughed. + +"Why do you make me read that newspaper?" cried Mouche, angrily. "My +grandpa says it is made up to please the rich, and everybody knows later +just what's in it." + +"The child is right, general," said Blondet; "and he makes me long to +see my hoaxing friend again." + +Mouche understood perfectly that he was posing for the amusement of the +company; the pupil of Pere Fourchon was worthy of his master, and he +forthwith began to cry. + +"How can you tease a child with bare feet?" said the countess. + +"And who thinks it quite natural that his grandfather should recoup +himself for his education by boxing his ears," said Blondet. + +"Tell me, my poor little fellow, have you really caught an otter?" + +"Yes, madame; as true as that you are the prettiest lady I have seen, or +ever shall see," said the child, wiping his eyes. + +"Then show me the otter," said the general. + +"Oh M'sieur le comte, my grandpa has hidden it; but it was kicking still +when we were at work at the rope-walk. Send for my grandpa, please; he +wants to sell it to you himself." + +"Take him into the kitchen," said the countess to Francois, "and give +him his breakfast, and send Charles to fetch Pere Fourchon. Find some +shoes, and a pair of trousers and a waistcoat for the poor child; those +who come here naked must go away clothed." + +"May God bless you, my beautiful lady," said Mouche, departing. "M'sieur +le cure may feel quite sure that I'll keep the things and wear 'em +fete-days, because you give 'em to me." + +Emile and Madame Montcornet looked at each other with some surprise, and +seemed to say to the abbe, "The boy is not a fool!" + +"It is quite true, madame," said the abbe after the child had gone, +"that we cannot reckon with Poverty. I believe it has hidden excuses of +which God alone can judge,--physical excuses, often congenital; moral +excuses, born in the character, produced by an order of things that +are often the result of qualities which, unhappily for society, have no +vent. Deeds of heroism performed upon the battle-field ought to teach us +that the worst scoundrels may become heroes. But here in this place you +are living under exceptional circumstances; and if your benevolence is +not controlled by reflection and judgment you run the risk of supporting +your enemies." + +"Our enemies?" exclaimed the countess. + +"Cruel enemies," said the general, gravely. + +"Pere Fourchon and his son-in-law Tonsard," said the abbe, "are the +strength and the intelligence of the lower classes of this valley, +who consult them on all occasions. The Machiavelism of these people is +beyond belief. Ten peasants meeting in a tavern are the small change of +great political questions." + +Just then Francois announced Monsieur Sibilet. + +"He is my minister of finance," said the general, smiling; "ask him in. +He will explain to you the gravity of the situation," he added, looking +at his wife and Blondet. + +"Because he has reasons of his own for not concealing it," said the +cure, in a low tone. + +Blondet then beheld a personage of whom he had heard much ever since his +arrival, and whom he desired to know, the land-steward of Les Aigues. He +saw a man of medium height, about thirty years of age, with a sulky look +and a discontented face, on which a smile sat ill. Beneath an anxious +brow a pair of greenish eyes evaded the eyes of others, and so disguised +their thought. Sibilet was dressed in a brown surtout coat, black +trousers and waistcoat, and wore his hair long and flat to the head, +which gave him a clerical look. His trousers barely concealed that he +was knock-kneed. Though his pallid complexion and flabby flesh gave the +impression of an unhealthy constitution, Sibilet was really robust. +The tones of his voice, which were a little thick, harmonized with this +unflattering exterior. + +Blondet gave a hasty look at the abbe, and the glance with which the +young priest answered it showed the journalist that his own suspicions +about the steward were certainties to the curate. + +"Did you not tell me, my dear Sibilet," said the general, "that you +estimate the value of what the peasants steal from us at a quarter of +the whole revenue?" + +"Much more than that, Monsieur le comte," replied the steward. "The poor +about here get more from your property than the State exacts in taxes. +A little scamp like Mouche can glean his two bushels a day. Old women, +whom you would really think at their last gasp, become at the harvest +and vintage times as active and healthy as girls. You can witness +that phenomenon very soon," said Sibilet, addressing Blondet, "for the +harvest, which was put back by the rains in July will begin next week, +when they cut the rye. The gleaners must have a certificate of pauperism +from the mayor of the district, and no district should allow any one to +glean except the paupers; but the districts of one canton do glean in +those of another without certificate. If we have sixty real paupers +in our district, there are at least forty others who could support +themselves if they were not so idle. Even persons who have a business +leave it to glean in the fields and in the vineyards. All these people, +taken together, gather in this neighborhood something like three hundred +bushels a day; the harvest lasts two weeks, and that makes four thousand +five hundred bushels in this district alone. The gleaning takes more +from an estate than the taxes. As to the abuse of pasturage, it robs +us of fully one-sixth the produce of the meadows; and as to that of +the woods, it is incalculable,--they have actually come to cutting down +six-year-old trees. The loss to you, Monsieur le comte, amounts to fully +twenty-odd thousand francs a year." + +"Do you hear that, madame?" said the general to his wife. + +"Is it not exaggerated?" asked Madame de Montcornet. + +"No, madame, unfortunately not," said the abbe. "Poor Niseron, that old +fellow with the white head, who combines the functions of bell-ringer, +beadle, grave-digger, sexton, and clerk, in defiance of his republican +opinions,--I mean the grandfather of the little Genevieve whom you +placed with Madame Michaud--" + +"La Pechina," said Sibilet, interrupting the abbe. + +"Pechina!" said the countess, "whom do you mean?" + +"Madame la comtesse, when you met little Genevieve on the road in a +miserable condition, you cried out in Italian, 'Piccina!' The word +became a nickname, and is now corrupted all through the district into +Pechina," said the abbe. "The poor girl comes to church with Madame +Michaud and Madame Sibilet." + +"And she is none the better for it," said Sibilet, "for the others +ill-treat her on account of her religion." + +"Well, that poor old man of seventy gleans, honestly, about a bushel +and a half a day," continued the priest; "but his natural uprightness +prevents him from selling his gleanings as others do,--he keeps them for +his own consumption. Monsieur Langlume, your miller, grinds his flour +gratis at my request, and my servant bakes his bread with mine." + +"I had quite forgotten my little protegee," said the countess, troubled +at Sibilet's remark. "Your arrival," she added to Blondet, "has quite +turned my head. But after breakfast I will take you to the gate of the +Avonne and show you the living image of those women whom the painters of +the fifteenth century delighted to perpetuate." + +The sound of Pere Fourchon's broken sabots was now heard; after +depositing them in the antechamber, he was brought to the door of the +dining-room by Francois. At a sign from the countess, Francois allowed +him to pass in, followed by Mouche with his mouth full and carrying the +otter, hanging by a string tied to its yellow paws, webbed like those of +a palmiped. He cast upon his four superiors sitting at table, and also +upon Sibilet, that look of mingled distrust and servility which serves +as a veil to the thoughts of the peasantry; then he brandished his +amphibian with a triumphant air. + +"Here it is!" he cried, addressing Blondet. + +"My otter!" returned the Parisian, "and well paid for." + +"Oh, my dear gentleman," replied Pere Fourchon, "yours got away; she is +now in her burrow, and she won't come out, for she's a female,--this +is a male; Mouche saw him coming just as you went away. As true as +you live, as true as that Monsieur le comte covered himself and his +cuirassiers with glory at Waterloo, the otter is mine, just as much as +Les Aigues belongs to Monseigneur the general. But the otter is _yours_ +for twenty francs; if not I'll take it to the sub-prefect. If Monsieur +Gourdon thinks it too dear, then I'll give you the preference; that's +only fair, as we hunted together this morning!" + +"Twenty francs!" said Blondet. "In good French you can't call that +_giving_ the preference." + +"Hey, my dear gentleman," cried the old fellow. "Perhaps I don't know +French, and I'll ask it in good Burgundian; as long as I get the money, +I don't care, I'll talk Latin: 'latinus, latina, latinum'! Besides, +twenty francs is what you promised me this morning. My children +have already stolen the silver you gave me; I wept about it, coming +along,--ask Charles if I didn't. Not that I'd arrest 'em for the value +of ten francs and have 'em up before the judge, no! But just as soon as +I earn a few pennies, they make me drink and get 'em out of me. Ah! it +is hard, hard to be reduced to go and get my wine elsewhere. But just +see what children are these days! That's what we got by the Revolution; +it is all for the children now-a-days, and parents are suppressed. +I'm bringing up Mouche on another tack; he loves me, the little +scamp,"--giving his grandson a poke. + +"It seems to me you are making him a little thief, like all the rest," +said Sibilet; "he never lies down at night without some sin on his +conscience." + +"Ha! Monsieur Sibilet, his conscience is as clean as yours any day! Poor +child! what can he steal? A little grass! that's better than throttling +a man! He don't know mathematics like you, nor subtraction, nor +addition, nor multiplication,--you are very unjust to us, that you +are! You call us a nest of brigands, but you are the cause of the +misunderstandings between our good landlord here, who is a worthy man, +and the rest of us, who are all worthy men,--there ain't an honester +part of the country than this. Come, what do you mean? do I own +property? don't I go half-naked, and Mouche too? Fine sheets we slept +in, washed by the dew every morning! and unless you want the air we +breathe and the sunshine we drink, I should like to know what we have +that you can take away from us! The rich folks rob as they sit in their +chimney-corners,--and more profitably, too, than by picking up a few +sticks in the woods. I don't see no game-keepers or patrols after +Monsieur Gaubertin, who came here as naked as a worm and is now worth +his millions. It's easy said, 'Robbers!' Here's fifteen years that old +Guerbet, the tax-gatherer at Soulanges, carries his money along the +roads by the dead of night, and nobody ever took a farthing from him; is +that like a land of robbers? has robbery made us rich? Show me which of +us two, your class or mine, live the idlest lives and have the most to +live on without earning it." + +"If you were to work," said the abbe, "you would have property. God +blesses labor." + +"I don't want to contradict you, M'sieur l'abbe, for you are wiser than +I, and perhaps you'll know how to explain something that puzzles me. Now +see, here I am, ain't I?--that drunken, lazy, idle, good-for-nothing old +Fourchon, who had an education and was a farmer, and got down in the mud +and never got up again,--well, what difference is there between me and +that honest and worthy old Niseron, seventy years old (and that's my +age) who has dug the soil for sixty years and got up every day before +it was light to go to his work, and has made himself an iron body and a +fine soul? Well, isn't he as bad off as I am? His little granddaughter, +Pechina, is at service with Madame Michaud, whereas my little Mouche is +as free as air. So that poor good man gets rewarded for his virtues in +exactly the same way that I get punished for my vices. He don't know +what a glass of good wine is, he's as sober as an apostle, he buries the +dead, and I--I play for the living to dance. He is always in a peck o' +troubles, while I slip along in a devil-may-care way. We have come along +about even in life; we've got the same snow on our heads, the same funds +in our pockets, and I supply him with rope to ring his bell. He's a +republican and I'm not even a publican,--that's all the difference as +far as I can see. A peasant may do good or do evil (according to your +ideas) and he'll go out of the world just as he came into it, in rags; +while you wear the fine clothes." + +No one interrupted Pere Fourchon, who seemed to owe his eloquence to his +potations. At first Sibilet tried to cut him short, but desisted at +a sign from Blondet. The abbe, the general, and the countess, all +understood from the expression of the writer's eye that he wanted to +study the question of pauperism from life, and perhaps take his revenge +on Pere Fourchon. + +"What sort of education are you giving Mouche?" asked Blondet. "Do you +expect to make him any better than your daughters?" + +"Does he ever speak to him of God?" said the priest. + +"Oh, no, no! Monsieur le cure, I don't tell him to fear God, but men. +God is good; he has promised us poor folks, so you say, the kingdom of +heaven, because the rich people keep the earth to themselves. I tell +him: 'Mouche! fear the prison, and keep out of it,--for that's the way +to the scaffold. Don't steal anything, make people give it to you. Theft +leads to murder, and murder brings down the justice of men. The razor of +justice,--_that's_ what you've got to fear; it lets the rich sleep easy +and keeps the poor awake. Learn to read. Education will teach you ways +to grab money under cover of the law, like that fine Monsieur Gaubertin; +why, you can even be a land-steward like Monsieur Sibilet here, who gets +his rations out of Monsieur le comte. The thing to do is to keep well +with the rich, and pick up the crumbs that fall from their tables.' +That's what I call giving him a good, solid education; and you'll always +find the little rascal on the side of the law,--he'll be a good citizen +and take care of me." + +"What do you mean to make of him?" asked Blondet. + +"A servant, to begin with," returned Fourchon, "because then he'll see +his masters close by, and learn something; he'll complete his education, +I'll warrant you. Good example will be a fortune to him, with the law on +his side like the rest of you. If M'sieur le comte would only take him +in his stables and let him learn to groom the horses, the boy will be +mighty pleased, for though I've taught him to fear men, he don't fear +animals." + +"You are a clever fellow, Pere Fourchon," said Blondet; "you know what +you are talking about, and there's sense in what you say." + +"Oh, sense? no; I left my sense at the Grand-I-Vert when I lost those +silver pieces." + +"How is it that a man of your capacity should have dropped so low? As +things are now, a peasant can only blame himself for his poverty; he is +a free man, and he can become a rich one. It is not as it used to be. If +a peasant lays by his money, he can always buy a bit of land and become +his own master." + +"I've seen the olden time and I've seen the new, my dear wise +gentleman," said Fourchon; "the sign over the door has changed, that's +true, but the wine is the same,--to-day is the younger brother of +yesterday, that's all. Put that in your newspaper! Are we poor folks +free? We still belong to the same parish, and its lord is always +there,--I call him Toil. The hoe, our sole property, has never left our +hands. Let it be the old lords or the present taxes which take the best +of our earnings, the fact remains that we sweat our lives out in toil." + +"But you could undertake a business, and try to make your fortune," said +Blondet. + +"Try to make my fortune! And where shall I try? If I wish to leave my +own province, I must get a passport, and that costs forty sous. Here's +forty years that I've never had a slut of a forty-sous piece jingling +against another in my pocket. If you want to travel you need as many +crowns as there are villages, and there are mighty few Fourchons who +have enough to get to six of 'em. It is only the draft that gives us a +chance to get away. And what good does the army do us? The colonels live +by the solider, just as the rich folks live by the peasant; and out of +every hundred of 'em you won't find more than one of our breed. It is +just as it is the world over, one rolling in riches, for a hundred down +in the mud. Why are we in the mud? Ask God and the usurers. The best we +can do is to stay in our own parts, where we are penned like sheep +by the force of circumstances, as our fathers were by the rule of the +lords. As for me, what do I care what shackles they are that keep me +here? let it be the law of public necessity or the tyranny of the old +lords, it is all the same; we are condemned to dig the soil forever. +There, where we are born, there we dig it, that earth! and spade it, +and manure it, and delve in it, for you who are born rich just as we are +born poor. The masses will always be what they are, and stay what they +are. The number of us who manage to rise is nothing like the number of +you who topple down! We know that well enough, if we have no education! +You mustn't be after us with your sheriff all the time,--not if you're +wise. We let you alone, and you must let us alone. If not, and things +get worse, you'll have to feed us in your prisons, where we'd be much +better off than in our homes. You want to remain our masters, and we +shall always be enemies, just as we were thirty years ago. You have +everything, we have nothing; you can't expect we should ever be +friends." + +"That's what I call a declaration of war," said the general. + +"Monseigneur," retorted Fourchon, "when Les Aigues belonged to that poor +Madame (God keep her soul and forgive her the sins of her youth!) we +were happy. _She_ let us get our food from the fields and our fuel from +the forest; and was she any the poorer for it? And you, who are at least +as rich as she, you hunt us like wild beasts, neither more nor less, and +drag the poor before the courts. Well, evil will come of it! you'll be +the cause of some great calamity. Haven't I just seen your keeper, that +shuffling Vatel, half kill a poor old woman for a stick of wood? It is +such fellows as that who make you an enemy to the poor; and the talk is +very bitter against you. They curse you every bit as hard as they used +to bless the late Madame. The curse of the poor, monseigneur, is a seed +that grows,--grows taller than your tall oaks, and oak-wood builds the +scaffold. Nobody here tells you the truth; and here it is, yes, the +truth! I expect to die before long, and I risk very little in telling it +to you, the _truth_! I, who play for the peasants to dance at the +great fetes at Soulanges, I heed what the people say. Well, they're all +against you; and they'll make it impossible for you to stay here. If +that damned Michaud of yours doesn't change, they'll force you to change +him. There! that information _and_ the otter are worth twenty francs, +and more too." + +As the old fellow uttered the last words a man's step was heard, and the +individual just threatened by Fourchon entered unannounced. It was +easy to see from the glance he threw at the old man that the threat had +reached his ears, and all Fourchon's insolence sank in a moment. The +look produced precisely the same effect upon him that the eye of a +policeman produces on a thief. Fourchon knew he was wrong, and that +Michaud might very well accuse him of saying these things merely to +terrify the inhabitants of Les Aigues. + +"This is the minister of war," said the general to Blondet, nodding at +Michaud. + +"Pardon me, madame, for having entered without asking if you were +willing to receive me," said the newcomer to the countess; "but I have +urgent reasons for speaking to the general at once." + +Michaud, as he said this, took notice of Sibilet, whose expression of +keen delight in Fourchon's daring words was not seen by the four persons +seated at the table, because they were so preoccupied by the old man; +whereas Michaud, who for secret reasons watched Sibilet constantly, was +struck with his air and manner. + +"He has earned his twenty francs, Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet; "the +otter is fully worth it." + +"Give him twenty francs," said the general to the footman. + +"Do you mean to take my otter away from me?" said Blondet to the +general. + +"I shall have it stuffed," replied the latter. + +"Ah! but that good gentleman said I might keep the skin," cried +Fourchon. + +"Well, then," exclaimed the countess, hastily, "you shall have five +francs more for the skin; but go away now." + +The powerful odor emitted by the pair made the dining-room so horribly +offensive that Madame de Montcornet, whose senses were very delicate, +would have been forced to leave the room if Fourchon and Mouche +had remained. To this circumstance the old man was indebted for his +twenty-five francs. He left the room with a timid glance at Michaud, +making him an interminable series of bows. + +"What I was saying to monseigneur, Monsieur Michaud," he added, "was +really for your good." + +"Or for that of those who pay you," replied Michaud, with a searching +look. + +"When you have served the coffee, leave the room," said the general to +the servants, "and see that the doors are shut." + +Blondet, who had not yet seen the bailiff of Les Aigues, was conscious, +as he now saw him, of a totally different impression from that conveyed +by Sibilet. Just as the steward inspired distrust and repulsion, so +Michaud commanded respect and confidence. The first attraction of his +presence was a happy face, of a fine oval, pure in outline, in which the +nose bore part,--a regularity which is lacking in the majority of +French faces. Though the features were correct in drawing, they were not +without expression, due, perhaps, to the harmonious coloring of the warm +brown and ochre tints, indicative of physical health and strength. The +clear brown eyes, which were bright and piercing, kept no reserves in +the expression of his thought; they looked straight into the eyes of +others. The broad white forehead was thrown still further into relief by +his abundant black hair. Honesty, decision, and a saintly serenity were +the animating points of this noble face, where a few deep lines upon the +brow were the result of the man's military career. Doubt and suspicion +could there be read the moment they had entered his mind. His figure, +like that of all men selected for the elite of the cavalry service, +though shapely and elegant, was vigorously built. Michaud, who wore +moustachios, whiskers, and a chin beard, recalled that martial type of +face which a deluge of patriotic paintings and engravings came very near +to making ridiculous. This type had the defect of being common in the +French army; perhaps the continuance of the same emotions, the same camp +sufferings from which none were exempt, neither high nor low, and more +especially the same efforts of officers and men upon the battle-fields, +may have contributed to produce this uniformity of countenance. Michaud, +who was dressed in dark blue cloth, still wore the black satin stock +and high boots of a soldier, which increased the slight stiffness and +rigidity of his bearing. The shoulders sloped, the chest expanded, as +though the man were still under arms. The red ribbon of the Legion of +honor was in his buttonhole. In short, to give a last touch in one word +about the moral qualities beneath this purely physical presentment, it +may be said that while the steward, from the time he first entered upon +his functions, never failed to call his master "Monsieur le comte," +Michaud never addressed him otherwise than as "General." + +Blondet exchanged another look with the Abbe Brossette, which meant, +"What a contrast!" as he signed to him to observe the two men. Then, +as if to know whether the character and mind and speech of the bailiff +harmonized with his form and countenance, he turned to Michaud and +said:-- + +"I was out early this morning, and found your under-keepers still +sleeping." + +"At what hour?" said the late soldier, anxiously. + +"Half-past seven." + +Michaud gave a half-roguish glance at the general. + +"By what gate did monsieur leave the park?" he asked. + +"By the gate of Conches. The keeper, in his night-shirt, looked at me +through the window," replied Blondet. + +"Gaillard had probably just gone to bed," answered Michaud. "You said +you were out early, and I thought you meant day-break. If my man were at +home at that time, he must have been ill; but at half-past seven he was +sure to be in bed. We are up all night," added Michaud, after a slight +pause, replying to a surprised look on the countess's face, "but our +watchfulness is often wasted. You have just given twenty-five francs to +a man who, not an hour ago, was quietly helping to hide the traces of +a robbery committed upon you this very morning. I came to speak to you +about it, general, when you have finished breakfast; for something will +have to be done." + +"You are always for maintaining the right, my dear Michaud, and 'summum +jus, summum injuria.' If you are not more tolerant, you will get into +trouble, so Sibilet here tells me. I wish you could have heard Pere +Fourchon just now; the wine he had been drinking made him speak out." + +"He frightened me," said the countess. + +"He said nothing I did not know long ago," replied the general. + +"Oh! the rascal wasn't drunk; he was playing a part; for whose benefit +I leave you to guess. Perhaps you know?" returned Michaud, fixing an eye +on Sibilet which caused the latter to turn red. + +"O rus!" cried Blondet, with another look at the abbe. + +"But these poor creatures suffer," said the countess, "and there is a +great deal of truth in what old Fourchon has just screamed at us,--for I +cannot call it speaking." + +"Madame," replied Michaud, "do you suppose that for fourteen years the +soldiers of the Emperor slept on a bed of roses? My general is a count, +he is a grand officer of the Legion of honor, he has had perquisites and +endowments given to him; am I jealous of him, I who fought as he did? Do +I wish to cheat him of his glory, to steal his perquisites, to deny him +the honor due to his rank? The peasant should obey as the soldier +obeys; he should feel the loyalty of a soldier, his respect for acquired +rights, and strive to become an officer himself, honorably, by labor and +not by theft. The sabre and the plough are twins; though the soldier has +something more than the peasant,--he has death hanging over him at any +minute." + +"I want to say that from the pulpit," cried the abbe. + +"Tolerant!" continued the keeper, replying to the general's remark about +Sibilet, "I would tolerate a loss of ten per cent upon the gross returns +of Les Aigues; but as things are now thirty per cent is what you lose, +general; and, if Monsieur Sibilet's accounts show it, I don't understand +his tolerance, for he benevolently gives up a thousand or twelve hundred +francs a year." + +"My dear Monsieur Michaud," replied Sibilet, in a snappish tone, "I have +told Monsieur le comte that I would rather lose twelve hundred francs +a year than my life. Think of it seriously; I have warned you often +enough." + +"Life!" exclaimed the countess; "you can't mean that anybody's life is +in danger?" + +"Don't let us argue about state affairs here," said the general, +laughing. "All this, my dear, merely means that Sibilet, in his capacity +of financier, is timid and cowardly, while the minister of war is brave +and, like his general, fears nothing." + +"Call me prudent, Monsieur le comte," interposed Sibilet. + +"Well, well!" cried Blondet, laughing, "so here we are, like Cooper's +heroes in the forests of America, in the midst of sieges and savages." + +"Come, gentlemen, it is your business to govern without letting me hear +the wheels of the administration," said Madame de Montcornet. + +"Ah! madame," said the cure, "but it may be right that you should know +the toil from which those pretty caps you wear are derived." + +"Well, then, I can go without them," replied the countess, laughing. "I +will be very respectful to a twenty-franc piece, and grow as miserly +as the country people themselves. Come, my dear abbe, give me your arm. +Leave the general with his two ministers, and let us go to the gate +of the Avonne to see Madame Michaud, for I have not had time since +my arrival to pay her a visit, and I want to inquire about my little +protegee." + +And the pretty woman, already forgetting the rags and tatters of Mouche +and Fourchon, and their eyes full of hatred, and Sibilet's warnings, +went to have herself made ready for the walk. + +The abbe and Blondet obeyed the behest of the mistress of the house and +followed her from the dining-room, waiting till she was ready on the +terrace before the chateau. + +"What do you think of all this?" said Blondet to the abbe. + +"I am a pariah; they dog me as they would a common enemy. I am forced +to keep my eyes and ears perpetually open to escape the traps they are +constantly laying to get me out of the place," replied the abbe. "I am +even doubtful, between ourselves, as to whether they will not shoot me." + +"Why do you stay?" said Blondet. + +"We can't desert God's cause any more than that of an emperor," replied +the priest, with a simplicity that affected Blondet. He took the abbe's +hand and shook it cordially. + +"You see how it is, therefore, that I know very little of the plots that +are going on," continued the abbe. "Still, I know enough to feel sure +that the general is under what in Artois and in Belgium is called an +'evil grudge.'" + +A few words are here necessary about the curate of Blangy. + +This priest, the fourth son of a worthy middle-class family of Autun, +was an intelligent man carrying his head high in his collar. Small +and slight, he redeemed his rather puny appearance by the precise and +carefully dressed air that belongs to Burgundians. He accepted the +second-rate post of Blangy out of pure devotion, for his religious +convictions were joined to political opinions that were equally strong. +There was something of the priest of the olden time about him; he +held to the Church and to the clergy passionately; saw the bearings +of things, and no selfishness marred his one ambition, which was _to +serve_. That was his motto,--to serve the Church and the monarchy +wherever it was most threatened; to serve in the lowest rank like +a soldier who feels that he is destined, sooner or later, to attain +command through courage and the resolve to do his duty. He made no +compromises with his vows of chastity, and poverty, and obedience; he +fulfilled them, as he did the other duties of his position, with that +simplicity and cheerful good-humor which are the sure indications of an +honest heart, constrained to do right by natural impulses as much as by +the power and consistency of religious convictions. + +The priest had seen at first sight Blondet's attachment to the countess; +he saw that between a Troisville and a monarchical journalist he could +safely show himself to be a man of broad intelligence, because his +calling was certain to be respected. He usually came to the chateau very +evening to make the fourth at a game of whist. The journalist, able to +recognize the abbe's real merits, showed him so much deference that the +pair grew into sympathy with each other; as usually happens when men of +intelligence meet their equals, or, if you prefer it, the ears that are +able to hear them. Swords are fond of their scabbards. + +"But to what do you attribute this state of things, Monsieur l'abbe, you +who are able, through your disinterestedness, to look over the heads of +things?" + +"I shall not talk platitudes after such a flattering speech as that," +said the abbe, smiling. "What is going on in this valley is spreading +more or less throughout France; it is the outcome of the hopes which the +upheaval of 1789 caused to infiltrate, if I may use that expression, the +minds of the peasantry, the sons of the soil. The Revolution affected +certain localities more than others. This side of Burgundy, nearest to +Paris, is one of those places where the revolutionary ideas spread like +the overrunning of the Franks by the Gauls. Historically, the peasants +are still on the morrow of the Jacquerie; that defeat is burnt in upon +their brain. They have long forgotten the facts which have now passed +into the condition of an instinctive idea. That idea is bred in the +peasant blood, just as the idea of superiority was once bred in noble +blood. The revolution of 1789 was the retaliation of the vanquished. The +peasants then set foot in possession of the soil which the feudal law +had denied them for over twelve hundred years. Hence their desire for +land, which they now cut up among themselves until actually they divide +a furrow into two parts; which, by the bye, often hinders or prevents +the collection of taxes, for the value of such fractions of property is +not sufficient to pay the legal costs of recovering them." + +"Very true, for the obstinacy of the small owners--their aggressiveness, +if you choose--on this point is so great that in at least one thousand +cantons of the three thousand of French territory, it is impossible +for a rich man to buy an inch of land from a peasant," said Blondet, +interrupting the abbe. "The peasants who are willing to divide up +their scraps of land among themselves would not sell a fraction on any +condition or at any price to the middle classes. The more money the +rich man offers, the more the vague uneasiness of the peasant increases. +Legal dispossession alone is able to bring the landed property of the +peasant into the market. Many persons have noticed this fact without +being able to find a reason for it." + +"This is the reason," said the abbe, rightly believing that a pause +with Blondet was equivalent to a question: "twelve centuries have done +nothing for a caste whom the historic spectacle of civilization has +never yet diverted from its one predominating thought,--a caste which +still wears proudly the broad-brimmed hat of its masters, ever since +an abandoned fashion placed it upon their heads. That all-pervading +thought, the roots of which are in the bowels of the people, and which +attached them so vehemently to Napoleon (who was personally less to them +than he thought he was) and which explains the miracle of his return in +1815,--that desire for land is the sole motive power of the peasant's +being. In the eyes of the masses Napoleon, ever one with them through +his million of soldiers, is still the king born of the Revolution; the +man who gave them possession of the soil and sold to them the national +domains. His anointing was saturated with that idea." + +"An idea to which 1814 dealt a blow, an idea which monarchy should hold +sacred," said Blondet, quickly; "for the people may some day find on the +steps of the throne a prince whose father bequeathed to him the head of +Louis XVI. as an heirloom." + +"Here is madame; don't say any more," said the abbe, in a low voice. +"Fourchon has frightened her; and it is very desirable to keep her here +in the interests of religion and of the throne, and, indeed, in those of +the people themselves." + +Michaud, the bailiff of Les Aigues, had come to the chateau in +consequence of the assault on Vatel's eyes. But before we relate the +consultation which then and there took place, the chain of events +requires a succinct account of the circumstances under which the general +purchased Les Aigues, the serious causes which led to the appointment +of Sibilet as steward of that magnificent property, and the reasons why +Michaud was made bailiff, with all the other antecedents to which were +due the tension of the minds of all, and the fears expressed by Sibilet. + +This rapid summary will have the merit of introducing some of the +principal actors in this drama, and of exhibiting their individual +interests; we shall thus be enabled to show the dangers which surrounded +the General comte de Montcornet at the moment when this history opens. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. A TALE OF THIEVES + + +When Mademoiselle Laguerre first visited her estate, in 1791, she took +as steward the son of the ex-bailiff of Soulanges, named Gaubertin. The +little town of Soulanges, at present nothing more than the chief town +of a canton, was once the capital of a considerable county, in the days +when the House of Burgundy made war upon France. Ville-aux-Fayes, now +the seat of the sub-prefecture, then a mere fief, was a dependency of +Soulanges, like Les Aigues, Ronquerolles, Cerneux, Conches, and a score +of other parishes. The Soulanges have remained counts, whereas the +Ronquerolles are now marquises by the will of that power, called the +Court, which made the son of Captain du Plessis duke over the heads of +the first families of the Conquest. All of which serves to prove that +towns, like families, are variable in their destiny. + +Gaubertin, a young man without property of any kind, succeeded a steward +enriched by a management of thirty years, who preferred to become a +partner in the famous firm of Minoret rather than continue to administer +Les Aigues. In his own interests he introduced into his place as +land-steward Francois Gaubertin, his accountant for five years, whom he +now relied on to cover his retreat, and who, out of gratitude for his +instructions, promised to obtain for him a release in full of all claims +from Madame Laguerre, who by this time was terrified at the Revolution. +Gaubertin's father, the attorney-general of the department, henceforth +protected the timid woman. This provincial Fouquier-Tinville raised a +false alarm of danger in the mind of the opera-divinity on the ground +of her former relations to the aristocracy, so as to give his son +the equally false credit of saving her life; on the strength of +which Gaubertin the younger obtained very easily the release of his +predecessor. Mademoiselle Laguerre then made Francois Gaubertin her +prime minister, as much through policy as from gratitude. The late +steward had not spoiled her. He sent her, every year, about thirty +thousand francs, though Les Aigues brought in at that time at least +forty thousand. The unsuspecting opera-singer was therefore much +delighted when the new steward Gaubertin promised her thirty-six +thousand. + +To explain the present fortune of the land-steward of Les Aigues +before the judgment-seat of probability, it is necessary to state its +beginnings. Pushed by his father's influence, he became mayor of Blangy. +Thus he was able, contrary to law, to make the debtors pay in coin, +by "terrorizing" (a phrase of the day) such of them as might, in his +opinion, be subjected to the crushing demands of the Republic. He +himself paid the citizens in assignats as long as the system of paper +money lasted,--a system which, if it did not make the nation prosperous, +at least made the fortunes of private individuals. From 1793 to 1795, +that is, for three years, Francois Gaubertin wrung one hundred and +fifty thousand francs out of Les Aigues, with which he speculated on the +stock-market in Paris. With her purse full of assignats Mademoiselle was +actually obliged to obtain ready money from her diamonds, now useless to +her. She gave them to Gaubertin, who sold them, and faithfully returned +to her their full price. This proof of honesty touched her heart; +henceforth she believed in Gaubertin as she did in Piccini. + +In 1796, at the time of his marriage with the citoyenne Isaure Mouchon, +daughter of an old "conventional," a friend of his father, Gaubertin +possessed about three hundred and fifty thousand francs in money. As the +Directory seemed to him likely to last, he determined, before marrying, +to have the accounts of his five years' stewardship ratified by +Mademoiselle, under pretext of a new departure. + +"I am to be the head of a family," he said to her; "you know the +reputation of land-stewards; my father-in-law is a republican of Roman +austerity, and a man of influence as well; I want to prove to him that I +am as upright as he." + +Mademoiselle Laguerre accepted his accounts at once in very flattering +terms. + +In those earlier days the steward had endeavored, in order to win the +confidence of Madame des Aigues (as Mademoiselle was then called) to +repress the depredations of the peasantry; fearing, and not without +reason, that the revenues would suffer too severely, and that his +private bonus from the buyers of the timber would sensibly diminish. +But in those days the sovereign people felt the soil was their own +everywhere; Madame was afraid of the surrounding kings and told her +Richelieu that the first desire of her soul was to die in peace. The +revenues of the late singer were so far in excess of her expenses that +she allowed all the worst, and, as it proved, fatal precedents to be +established. To avoid a lawsuit, she allowed the neighbors to encroach +upon her land. Knowing that the park walls were sufficient protection, +she did not fear any interruption of her personal comfort, and cared for +nothing but her peaceful existence, true philosopher that she was! A +few thousand a year more or less, the indemnities exacted by the +wood-merchants for the damages committed by the peasants,--what were +they to a careless and extravagant Opera-girl, who had gained her +hundred thousand francs a year at the cost of pleasure only, and who had +just submitted, without a word of remonstrance, to a reduction of two +thirds of an income of sixty thousand francs? + +"Dear me!" she said, in the easy tone of the wantons of the old time, +"people must live, even if they are republicans." + +The terrible Mademoiselle Cochet, her maid and female vizier, had tried +to enlighten her mistress when she saw the ascendency Gaubertin was +obtaining over one whom he began by calling "Madame" in defiance of +the revolutionary laws about equality; but Gaubertin, in his turn, +enlightened Mademoiselle Cochet by showing her a so-called denunciation +sent to his father, the prosecuting attorney, in which she was +vehemently accused of corresponding with Pitt and Coburg. From that time +forward the two powers went on shares--shares a la Montgomery. +Cochet praised Gaubertin to Madame, and Gaubertin praised Cochet. The +waiting-maid had already made her own bed, and knew she was down for +sixty thousand francs in the will. Madame could not do without +Cochet, to whom she was accustomed. The woman knew the secrets of dear +mistress's toilet; she alone could put dear mistress to sleep at night +with her gossip, and get her up in the morning with her flattery; to +the day of dear mistress's death the maid never could see the slightest +change in her, and when dear mistress lay in her coffin, she doubtless +thought she had never seen her looking so well. + +The annual pickings of Gaubertin and Mademoiselle Cochet, their wages +and perquisites, became so large that the most affectionate relative +could not possibly have been more devoted than they to their kindly +mistress. There is really no describing how a swindler cossets his dupe. +A mother is not so tender nor so solicitous for a beloved daughter as +the practitioner of tartuferie for his milch cow. What brilliant success +attends the performance of Tartufe behind the closed doors of a home! It +is worth more than friendship. Moliere died too soon; he would otherwise +have shown us the misery of Orgon, wearied by his family, harassed by +his children, regretting the blandishments of Tartufe, and thinking to +himself, "Ah, those were the good times!" + +During the last eight years of her life the mistress of Les Aigues +received only thirty thousand francs of the fifty thousand really +yielded by the estate. Gaubertin had reached the same administrative +results as his predecessor, though farm rents and territorial products +were notably increased between 1791 and 1815,--not to speak of Madame's +continual purchases. But Gaubertin's fixed idea of acquiring Les +Aigues at the old lady's death led him to depreciate the value of +the magnificent estate in the matter of its ostensible revenues. +Mademoiselle Cochet, a sharer in the scheme, was also to share the +profits. As the ex-divinity in her declining years received an income of +twenty thousand francs from the Funds called consolidated (how readily +the tongue of politics can jest!), and with difficulty spent the said +sum yearly, she was much surprised at the annual purchases made by her +steward to use up the accumulating revenues, remembering how in former +times she had always drawn them in advance. The result of having few +wants in her old age seemed, to her mind, a proof of the honesty and +uprightness of Gaubertin and Mademoiselle Cochet. + +"Two pearls!" she said to the persons who came to see her. + +Gaubertin kept his accounts with apparent honesty. He entered all +rentals duly. Everything that could strike the feeble mind of the late +singer, so far as arithmetic went, was clear and precise. The steward +took his commission on all disbursements,--on the costs of working the +estate, on rentals made, on suits brought, on work done, on repairs of +every kind,--details which Madame never dreamed of verifying, and for +which he sometimes charged twice over by collusion with the contractors, +whose silence was bought by permission to charge the highest prices. +These methods of dealing conciliated public opinion in favor of +Gaubertin, while Madame's praise was on every lip; for besides the +payments she disbursed for work, she gave away large sums of money in +alms. + +"May God preserve her, the dear lady!" was heard on all sides. + +The truth was, everybody got something out of her, either indirectly +or as a downright gift. In reprisals, as it were, of her youth the old +actress was pillaged; so discreetly pillaged, however, that those who +throve upon her kept their depredations within certain limits lest even +her eyes might be opened and she should sell Les Aigues and return to +Paris. + +This system of "pickings" was, alas! the cause of Paul-Louis Carter's +assassination; he committed the mistake of advertising the sale of his +estate and allowing it to be known that he should take away his wife, +on whom a number of the Tonsards of Lorraine were battening. Fearing to +lose Madame des Aigues, the marauders on the estate forbore to cut the +young trees, unless pushed to extremities by finding no branches within +reach of shears fastened to long poles. In the interests of robbery, +they did as little harm as they could; although, during the last +years of Madame's life, the habit of cutting wood became more and more +barefaced. On certain clear nights not less than two hundred bundles +were taken. As to the gleaning of fields and vineyards, Les Aigues lost, +as Sibilet had pointed out, not less than one quarter of its products. + +Madame des Aigues had forbidden Cochet to marry during her lifetime, +with the selfishness often shown in all countries by a mistress to +a maid; which is not more irrational than the mania for keeping +possession, until our last gasp, of property that is utterly useless to +our material comfort, at the risk of being poisoned by impatient heirs. +Twenty days after the old lady's burial Mademoiselle Cochet married the +brigadier of the gendarmerie of Soulanges, named Soudry, a handsome +man, forty-two years of age, who, ever since 1800 (in which year the +gendarmerie was formed) had come every day to Les Aigues to see the +waiting-maid, and dined with her at least three times a week at the +Gaubertins'. + +During Madame's lifetime dinner was served to her and to her company +by themselves. Neither Cochet nor Gaubertin, in spite of their great +familiarity with the mistress, was ever admitted to her table; the +leading lady of the Academie Royale retained, to her last hour, her +sense of etiquette, her style of dress, her rouge and her heeled +slippers, her carriage, her servants, and the majesty of her deportment. +A divinity at the Opera, a divinity within her range of Parisian social +life, she continued a divinity in the country solitudes, where her +memory is still worshipped, and still holds its own against that of the +old monarchy in the minds of the "best society" of Soulanges. + +Soudry, who had paid his addresses to Mademoiselle Cochet from the +time he first came into the neighborhood, owned the finest house in +Soulanges, an income of six thousand francs, and the prospect of a +retiring pension whenever he should quit the service. As soon as Cochet +became Madame Soudry she was treated with great consideration in the +town. Though she kept the strictest secrecy as to the amount of +her savings,--which were intrusted, like those of Gaubertin, to the +commissary of wine-merchants of the department in Paris, a certain +Leclercq, a native of Soulanges, to whom Gaubertin supplied funds as +sleeping partner in his business,--public opinion credited the former +waiting-maid with one of the largest fortunes in the little town of +twelve hundred inhabitants. + +To the great astonishment of every one, Monsieur and Madame Soudry +acknowledged as legitimate, in their marriage contract, a natural son +of the gendarme, to whom, in future, Madame Soudry's fortune was to +descend. At the time when this son was legally supplied with a mother, +he had just ended his law studies in Paris and was about to enter into +practice, with the intention of fitting himself for the magistracy. + +It is scarcely necessary to remark that a mutual understanding of +twenty years had produced the closest intimacy between the families of +Gaubertin and Soudry. Both reciprocally declared themselves, to the +end of their days, "urbi et orbi," to be the most upright and honorable +persons in all France. Such community of interests, based on the mutual +knowledge of the secret spots on the white garment of conscience, is one +of the ties least recognized and hardest to untie in this low world. You +who read this social drama, have you never felt a conviction as to two +persons which has led you to say to yourself, in order to explain the +continuance of a faithful devotion which made your own egotism blush, +"They must surely have committed some crime together"? + +After an administration of twenty-five years, Gaubertin, the +land-steward, found himself in possession of six hundred thousand +francs in money, and Cochet had accumulated nearly two hundred and fifty +thousand. The rapid and constant turning over and over of their funds in +the hands of Leclercq and Company (on the quai Bethume, Ile Saint Louis, +rivals of the famous house of Grandet) was a great assistance to the +fortunes of all parties. On the death of Mademoiselle Laguerre, Jenny, +the steward's eldest daughter was asked in marriage by Leclercq. +Gaubertin expected at that time to become owner of Les Aigues by means +of a plot laid in the private office of Lupin, the notary, whom the +steward had set up and maintained in business within the last twelve +years. + +Lupin, a son of the former steward of the estate of Soulanges, had lent +himself to various slight peculations,--investments at fifty per +cent below par, notices published surreptitiously, and all the other +manoeuvres, unhappily common in the provinces, to wrap a mantle, as +the saying is, over the clandestine manipulations of property. Lately +a company has been formed in Paris, so they say, to levy contributions +upon such plotters under a threat of outbidding them. But in 1816 France +was not, as it is now, lighted by a flaming publicity; the accomplices +might safely count on dividing Les Aigues among them, that is, between +Cochet, the notary, and Gaubertin, the latter of whom reserved to +himself, "in petto," the intention of buying the others out for a sum +down, as soon as the property fairly stood in his own name. The lawyer +employed by the notary to manage the sale of the estate was under +personal obligations to Gaubertin, so that he favored the spoliation of +the heirs, unless any of the eleven farmers of Picardy should take it +into their heads to think they were cheated, and inquire into the real +value of the property. + +Just as those interested expected to find their fortunes made, a lawyer +came from Paris on the evening before the final settlement, and employed +a notary at Ville-aux-Fayes, who happened to be one of his former +clerks, to buy the estate of Les Aigues, which he did for eleven hundred +thousand francs. None of the conspirators dared outbid an offer of +eleven hundred thousand francs. Gaubertin suspected some treachery +on Soudry's part, and Soudry and Lupin thought they were tricked by +Gaubertin. But a statement on the part of the purchasing agent, the +notary of Ville-aux-Fayes, disabused them of these suspicions. The +latter, though suspecting the plan formed by Gaubertin, Lupin, and +Soudry, refrained from informing the lawyer in Paris, for the reason +that if the new owners indiscreetly repeated his words, he would have +too many enemies at his heels to be able to stay where he was. This +reticence, peculiar to provincials, was in this particular case amply +justified by succeeding events. If the dwellers in the provinces are +dissemblers, they are forced to be so; their excuse lies in the danger +expressed in the old proverb, "We must howl with the wolves," a meaning +which underlies the character of Phillinte. + +When General Montcornet took possession of Les Aigues, Gaubertin was no +longer rich enough to give up his place. In order to marry his daughter +to a rich banker he was obliged to give her a dowry of two hundred +thousand francs; he had to pay thirty thousand for his son's practice; +and all that remained of his accumulations was three hundred and seventy +thousand, out of which he would be forced, sooner or later, to pay the +dowry of his remaining daughter, Elise, for whom he hoped to arrange a +marriage at least as good as that of her sister. The steward determined +to study the general, in order to find out if he could disgust him with +the place,--hoping still to be able to carry out his defeated plan in +his own interests. + +With the peculiar instinct which characterizes those who make their +fortunes by craft, Gaubertin believed in a resemblance of nature (which +was not improbable) between an old soldier and an Opera-singer. An +actress, and a general of the Empire,--surely they would have the same +extravagant habits, the same careless prodigality? To the one as to the +other, riches came capriciously and by lucky chances. If some soldiers +are wily and astute and clever politicians, they are exceptions; a +soldier is, usually, especially an accomplished cavalry officer like +Montcornet, guileless, confident, a novice in business, and little +fitted to understand details in the management of an estate. Gaubertin +flattered himself that he could catch and hold the general with the +same net in which Mademoiselle Laguerre had finished her days. But it so +happened that the Emperor had once, intentionally, allowed Montcornet +to play the same game in Pomerania that Gaubertin was playing at +Les Aigues; consequently, the general fully understood a system of +plundering. + +In planting cabbages, to use the expression of the first Duc de Biron, +the old cuirassier sought to divert his mind, by occupation, from +dwelling on his fall. Though he had yielded his "corps d'armee" to +the Bourbons, that duty (performed by other generals and termed the +disbanding of the army of the Loire) could not atone for the crime of +having followed the man of the Hundred-Days to his last battle-field. +In presence of the allied army it was impossible for the peer of 1815 +to remain in the service, still less at the Luxembourg. Accordingly, +Montcornet betook himself to the country by advice of a dismissed +marshal, to plunder Nature herself. The general was not deficient in +the special cunning of an old military fox; and after he had spent a few +days in examining his new property, he saw that Gaubertin was a steward +of the old system,--a swindler, such as the dukes and marshals of the +Empire, those mushrooms bred from the common earth, were well acquainted +with. + +The wily general, soon aware of Gaubertin's great experience in rural +administration, felt it was politic to keep well with him until he had +himself learned the secrets of it; accordingly, he passed himself off +as another Mademoiselle Laguerre, a course which lulled the steward into +false security. This apparent simple-mindedness lasted all the time it +took the general to learn the strength and weakness of Les Aigues, to +master the details of its revenues and the manner of collecting them, +and to ascertain how and where the robberies occurred, together with the +betterments and economies which ought to be undertaken. Then, one fine +morning, having caught Gaubertin with his hand in the bag, as the saying +is, the general flew into one of those rages peculiar to the +imperial conquerors of many lands. In doing so he committed a capital +blunder,--one that would have ruined the whole life of a man of less +wealth and less consistency than himself, and from which came the evils, +both small and great, with which the present history teems. Brought up +in the imperial school, accustomed to deal with men as a dictator, and +full of contempt for "civilians," Montcornet did not trouble himself to +wear gloves when it came to putting a rascal of a land-steward out of +doors. Civil life and its precautions were things unknown to the +soldier already embittered by his loss of rank. He humiliated Gaubertin +ruthlessly, though the latter drew the harsh treatment upon himself by a +cynical reply which roused Montcornet's anger. + +"You are living off my land," said the general, with jesting severity. + +"Do you think I can live off the sky?" returned Gaubertin, with a sneer. + +"Out of my sight, blackguard! I dismiss you!" cried the general, +striking him with his whip,--blows which the steward always denied +having received, for they were given behind closed doors. + +"I shall not go without my release in full," said Gaubertin, coldly, +keeping at a distance from the enraged soldier. + +"We will see what is thought of you in a police court," replied +Montcornet, shrugging his shoulders. + +Hearing the threat, Gaubertin looked at the general and smiled. The +smile had the effect of relaxing Montcornet's arms as though the sinews +had been cut. We must explain that smile. + +For the last two years, Gaubertin's brother-in-law, a man named Gendrin, +long a justice of the municipal court of Ville-aux-Fayes, had become the +president of that court through the influence of the Comte de Soulanges. +The latter was made peer of France in 1814, and remained faithful to +the Bourbons during the Hundred-Days, therefore the Keeper of the Seals +readily granted an appointment at his request. This relationship gave +Gaubertin a certain importance in the country. The president of the +court of a little town is, relatively, a greater personage than the +president of one of the royal courts of a great city, who has various +equals, such as generals, bishops, and prefects; whereas the judge +of the court of a small town has none,--the attorney-general and the +sub-prefect being removable at will. Young Soudry, a companion of +Gaubertin's son in Paris as well as at Les Aigues, had just been +appointed assistant attorney in the capital of the department. Before +the elder Soudry, a quartermaster in the artillery, became a brigadier +of gendarmes, he had been wounded in a skirmish while defending Monsieur +de Soulanges, then adjutant-general. At the time of the creation of +the gendarmerie, the Comte de Soulanges, who by that time had become a +colonel, asked for a brigade for his former protector, and later still +he solicited the post we have named for the younger Soudry. Besides all +these influences, the marriage of Mademoiselle Gaubertin with a wealthy +banker of the quai Bethume made the unjust steward feel that he was +far stronger in the community than a lieutenant-general driven into +retirement. + +If this history provided no other instruction that that offered by the +quarrel between the general and his steward, it would still be useful +to many persons as a lesson for their conduct in life. He who reads +Machiavelli profitably, knows that human prudence consists in never +threatening; in doing but not saying; in promoting the retreat of an +enemy and never stepping, as the saying is, on the tail of the serpent; +and in avoiding, as one would murder, the infliction of a blow to the +self-love of any one lower than one's self. An injury done to a person's +interest, no matter how great it may be at the time, is forgiven or +explained in the long run; but self-love, vanity, never ceases to bleed +from a wound given, and never forgives it. The moral being is actually +more sensitive, more living as it were, than the physical being. The +heart and the blood are less impressible than the nerves. In short, +our inward being rules us, no matter what we do. You may reconcile +two families who have half-killed each other, as in Brittany and in +La Vendee during the civil wars, but you can no more reconcile the +calumniators and the calumniated than you can the spoilers and the +despoiled. It is only in epic poems that men curse each other before +they kill. The savage, and the peasant who is much like a savage, seldom +speak unless to deceive an enemy. Ever since 1789 France has been trying +to make man believe, against all evidence, that they are equal. To say +to a man, "You are a swindler," may be taken as a joke; but to catch him +in the act and prove it to him with a cane on his back, to threaten him +with a police-court and not follow up the threat, is to remind him of +the inequality of conditions. If the masses will not brook any species +of superiority, is it likely that a swindler will forgive that of an +honest man? + +Montcornet might have dismissed his steward under pretext of paying +off a military obligation by putting some old soldier in his place; +Gaubertin and the general would have understood the matter, and the +latter, by sparing the steward's self-love would have given him a chance +to withdraw quietly. Gaubertin, in that case, would have left his late +employer in peace, and possibly he might have taken himself and his +savings to Paris for investment. But being, as he was, ignominiously +dismissed, the man conceived against his late master one of those bitter +hatreds which are literally a part of existence in provincial life, the +persistency, duration, and plots of which would astonish diplomatists +who are trained to let nothing astonish them. A burning desire for +vengeance led him to settle at Ville-aux-Fayes, and to take a position +where he could injure Montcornet and stir up sufficient enmity against +to force him to sell Les Aigues. + +The general was deceived by appearances; for Gaubertin's external +behavior was not of a nature to warn or to alarm him. The late steward +followed his old custom of pretending, not exactly poverty, but limited +means. For years he had talked of his wife and three children, and the +heavy expenses of a large family. Mademoiselle Laguerre, to whom he had +declared himself too poor to educate his son in Paris, paid the costs +herself, and allowed her dear godson (for she was Claude Gaubertin's +sponsor) two thousand francs a year. + +The day after the quarrel, Gaubertin came, with a keeper named +Courtecuisse, and demanded with much insolence his release in full of +all claims, showing the general the one he had obtained from his late +mistress in such flattering terms, and asking, ironically, that a +search should be made for the property, real and otherwise, which he was +supposed to have stolen. If he had received fees from the wood-merchants +on their purchases and from the farmers on their leases, Mademoiselle +Laguerre, he said, had always allowed it; not only did she gain by the +bargains he made, but everything went on smoothly without troubling +her. The country-people would have died, he remarked, for Mademoiselle, +whereas the general was laying up for himself a store of difficulties. + +Gaubertin--and this trait is frequently to be seen in the majority of +those professions in which the property of others can be taken by means +not foreseen by the Code--considered himself a perfectly honest man. +In the first place, he had so long had possession of the money +extorted from Mademoiselle Laguerre's farmers through fear, and paid in +assignats, that he regarded it as legitimately acquired. It was a mere +matter of exchange. He thought that in the end he should have quite as +much risk with coin as with paper. Besides, legally, Mademoiselle had no +right to receive any payment except in assignats. "Legally" is a fine, +robust adverb, which bolsters up many a fortune! Moreover, he reflected +that ever since great estates and land-agents had existed, that is, ever +since the origin of society, the said agents had set up, for their own +use, an argument such as we find our cooks using in this present day. +Here it is, in its simplicity:-- + +"If my mistress," says the cook, "went to market herself, she would have +to pay more for her provisions than I charge her; she is the gainer, +and the profits I make do more good in my hands than in those of the +dealers." + +"If Mademoiselle," thought Gaubertin, "were to manage Les Aigues +herself, she would never get thirty thousand francs a year out of it; +the peasants, the dealers, the workmen would rob her of the rest. It is +much better that I should have it, and so enable her to live in peace." + +The Catholic religion, and it alone, is able to prevent these +capitulations of conscience. But, ever since 1789 religion has no +influence on two thirds of the French people. The peasants, whose +minds are keen and whose poverty drives them to imitation, had +reached, specially in the valley of Les Aigues, a frightful state of +demoralization. They went to mass on Sundays, but only at the outside of +the church, where it was their custom to meet and transact business and +make their weekly bargains. + +We can now estimate the extent of the evil done by the careless +indifference of the great singer to the management of her property. +Mademoiselle Laguerre betrayed, through mere selfishness, the interests +of those who owned property, who are held in perpetual hatred by +those who own none. Since 1792 the land-owners of Paris have become of +necessity a combined body. If, alas, the feudal families, less numerous +than the middle-class families, did not perceive the necessity of +combining in 1400 under Louis XI., nor in 1600 under Richelieu, can we +expect that in this nineteenth century of progress the middle classes +will prove to be more permanently and solidly combined that the old +nobility? An oligarchy of a hundred thousand rich men presents all the +dangers of a democracy with none of its advantages. The principle of +"every man for himself and for his own," the selfishness of individual +interests, will kill the oligarchical selfishness so necessary to the +existence of modern society, and which England has practised with such +success for the last three centuries. Whatever may be said or done, +land-owners will never understand the necessity of the sort of internal +discipline which made the Church such an admirable model of government, +until, too late, they find themselves in danger from one another. +The audacity with which communism, that living and acting logic of +democracy, attacks society from the moral side, shows plainly that the +Samson of to-day, grown prudent, is undermining the foundations of the +cellar, instead of shaking the pillars of the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. CERTAIN LOST SOCIAL SPECIES + + +The estate of Les Aigues could not do without a steward; for the general +had no intention of renouncing his winter pleasures in Paris, where he +owned a fine house in the rue Neuve-des-Mathurines. He therefore looked +about for a successor to Gaubertin; but it is very certain that his +search was not as eager as that of Gaubertin himself, who was seeking +for the right person to put in his way. + +Of all confidential positions there is none that requires more trained +knowledge of its kind, or more activity, than that of land-steward to +a great estate. The difficulty of finding the right man is only fully +known to those wealthy landlords whose property lies beyond a certain +circle around Paris, beginning at a distance of about one hundred and +fifty miles. At that point agricultural productions for the markets of +Paris, which warrant rentals on long leases (collected often by other +tenants who are rich themselves), cease to be cultivated. The farmers +who raise them drive to the city in their own cabriolets to pay their +rents in good bank-bills, unless they send the money through their +agents in the markets. For this reason, the farms of the Seine-et-Oise, +Seine-et-Marne, the Oise, the Eure-et-Loir, the Lower Seine, and the +Loiret are so desirable that capital cannot always be invested there at +one and a half per cent. Compared to the returns on estates in Holland, +England, and Belgium, this result is enormous. But at one hundred miles +from Paris an estate requires such variety of working, its products are +so different in kind, that it becomes a business, with all the risks +attendant on manufacturing. The wealthy owner is really a merchant, +forced to look for a market for his products, like the owner of +ironworks or cotton factories. He does not even escape competition; the +peasant, the small proprietor, is at his heels with an avidity which +leads to transactions to which well-bred persons cannot condescend. + +A land-steward must understand surveying, the customs of the locality, +the methods of sale and of labor, together with a little quibbling in +the interests of those he serves; he must also understand book-keeping +and commercial matters, and be in perfect health, with a liking for +active life and horse exercise. His duty being to represent his master +and to be always in communication with him, the steward ought not to be +a man of the people. As the salary of his office seldom exceeds three +thousand francs, the problem seems insoluble. How is it possible to +obtain so many qualifications for such a very moderate price,--in +a region, moreover, where the men who are provided with them are +admissible to all other employments? Bring down a stranger to fill the +place, and you will pay dear for the experience he must acquire. Train +a young man on the spot, and you are more than likely to get a thorn +of ingratitude in your side. It therefore becomes necessary to choose +between incompetent honesty, which injures your property through its +blindness and inertia, and the cleverness which looks out for itself. +Hence the social nomenclature and natural history of land-stewards as +defined by a great Polish noble. + +"There are," he said, "two kinds of stewards: he who thinks only of +himself, and he who thinks of himself and of us; happy the land-owner +who lays his hands on the latter! As for the steward who would think +only of us, he is not to be met with." + +Elsewhere can be found a steward who thought of this master's interests +as well as of his own. ("Un Debut dans la vie," "Scenes de la vie +privee.") Gaubertin is the steward who thinks of himself only. To +represent the third figure of the problem would be to hold up to public +admiration a very unlikely personage, yet one that was not unknown to +the old nobility, though he has, alas! disappeared with them. (See "Le +Cabinet des Antiques," "Scenes de la vie de province.") Through the +endless subdivision of fortunes aristocratic habits and customs are +inevitably changed. If there be not now in France twenty great fortunes +managed by intendants, in fifty years from now there will not be a +hundred estates in the hands of stewards, unless a great change is made +in the law. Every land-owner will be brought by that time to look after +his own interests. + +This transformation, already begun, suggested the following answer of a +clever woman when asked why, since 1830, she stayed in Paris during the +summer. "Because," she said, "I do not care to visit chateaux which +are now turned into farms." What is to be the future of this question, +getting daily more and more imperative,--that of man to man, the poor +man and the rich man? This book is written to throw some light upon that +terrible social question. + +It is easy to understand the perplexities which assailed the general +after he had dismissed Gaubertin. While saying to himself, vaguely, +like other persons free to do or not to do a thing, "I'll dismiss that +scamp"; he had overlooked the risk and forgotten the explosion of his +boiling anger,--the anger of a choleric fire-eater at the moment when a +flagrant imposition forced him to raise the lids of his wilfully blind +eyes. + +Montcornet, a land-owner for the first time and a denizen of Paris, had +not provided himself with a steward before coming to Les Aigues; but +after studying the neighborhood carefully he saw it was indispensable to +a man like himself to have an intermediary to manage so many persons of +low degree. + +Gaubertin, who discovered during the excitement of the scene (which +lasted more than two hours) the difficulties in which the general would +soon be involved, jumped on his pony after leaving the room where the +quarrel took place, and galloped to Soulanges to consult the Soudrys. At +his first words, "The general and I have parted; whom can we put in my +place without his suspecting it?" the Soudrys understood their friend's +wishes. Do not forget that Soudry, for the last seventeen years chief +of police of the canton, was doubly shrewd through his wife, an adept in +the particular wiliness of a waiting-maid of an Opera divinity. + +"We may go far," said Madame Soudry, "before we find any one to suit the +place as well as our poor Sibilet." + +"Made to order!" exclaimed Gaubertin, still scarlet with mortification. +"Lupin," he added, turning to the notary, who was present, "go to +Ville-aux-Fayes and whisper it to Marechal, in case that big fire-eater +asks his advice." + +Marechal was the lawyer whom his former patron, when buying Les Aigues +for the general, had recommended to Monsieur de Montcornet as legal +adviser. + +Sibilet, eldest son of the clerk of the court at Ville-aux-Fayes, a +notary's clerk, without a penny of his own, and twenty-five years +old, had fallen in love with the daughter of the chief-magistrate of +Soulanges. The latter, named Sarcus, had a salary of fifteen hundred +francs, and was married to a woman without fortune, the eldest sister of +Monsieur Vermut, the apothecary of Soulanges. Though an only daughter, +Mademoiselle Sarcus, whose beauty was her only dowry, could scarcely +have lived on the salary paid to a notary's clerk in the provinces. +Young Sibilet, a relative of Gaubertin, by a connection rather difficult +to trace through family ramifications which make members of the middle +classes in all the smaller towns cousins to each other, owed a modest +position in a government office to the assistance of his father and +Gaubertin. The unlucky fellow had the terrible happiness of being the +father of two children in three years. His own father, blessed with +five, was unable to assist him. His wife's father owned nothing beside +his house at Soulanges and an income of two thousand francs. Madame +Sibilet the younger spent most of her time at her father's home with her +two children, where Adolphe Sibilet, whose official duty obliged him to +travel through the department, came to see her from time to time. + +Gaubertin's exclamation, though easy to understand from this summary of +young Sibilet's life, needs a few more explanatory details. + +Adolphe Sibilet, supremely unlucky, as we have shown by the foregoing +sketch of him, was one of those men who cannot reach the heart of a +woman except by way of the altar and the mayor's office. Endowed with +the suppleness of a steel-spring, he yielded to pressure, certain to +revert to his first thought. This treacherous habit is prompted by +cowardice; but the business training which Sibilet underwent in the +office of a provincial notary had taught him the art of concealing +this defect under a gruff manner which simulated a strength he did not +possess. Many false natures mask their hollowness in this way; be +rough with them in return and the effect produced is that of a balloon +collapsed by a prick. Such was Sibilet. But as most men are not +observers, and as among observers three fourths observe only after a +thing has taken place, Adolphe Sibilet's grumbling manner was considered +the result of an honest frankness, of a capacity much praised by his +master, and of a stubborn uprightness which no temptation could shake. +Some men are as much benefited by their defects as others by their good +qualities. + +Adeline Sarcus, a pretty young woman, brought up by a mother (who died +three years before her marriage) as well as a mother can educate an only +daughter in a remote country town, was in love with the handsome son +of Lupin, the Soulanges notary. At the first signs of this romance, old +Lupin, who intended to marry his son to Mademoiselle Elise Gaubertin, +lost no time in sending young Amaury Lupin to Paris, to the care of his +friend and correspondent Crottat, the notary, where, under pretext of +drawing deeds and contracts, Amaury committed a variety of foolish acts, +and made debts, being led thereto by a certain Georges Marest, a clerk +in the same office, but a rich young man, who revealed to him the +mysteries of Parisian life. By the time Lupin the elder went to Paris to +bring back his son, Adeline Sarcus had become Madame Sibilet. In +fact, when the adoring Adolphe offered himself, her father, the old +magistrate, prompted by young Lupin's father, hastened the marriage, to +which Adeline yielded in sheer despair. + +The situation of clerk in a government registration office is not a +career. It is, like other such places which admit of no rise, one of +the many holes of the government sieve. Those who start in life in +these holes (the topographical, the professorial, the highway-and-canal +departments) are apt to discover, invariably too late, that cleverer men +then they, seated beside them, are fed, as the Opposition writers say, +on the sweat of the people, every time the sieve dips down into the +taxation-pot by means of a machine called the budget. Adolphe, working +early and late and earning little, soon found out the barren depths +of his hole; and his thoughts busied themselves, as he trotted from +township to township, spending his salary in shoe-leather and costs of +travelling, with how to find a permanent and more profitable place. + +No one can imagine, unless he happens to squint and to have two +legitimate children, what ambitions three years of misery and love had +developed in this young man, who squinted both in mind and vision, +and whose happiness halted, as it were, on one leg. The chief cause +of secret evil deeds and hidden meanness is, perhaps, an incompleted +happiness. Man can better bear a state of hopeless misery than those +terrible alternations of love and sunshine with continual rain. If the +body contracts disease, the mind contracts the leprosy of envy. In petty +minds that leprosy becomes a base and brutal cupidity, both insolent and +shrinking; in cultivated minds it fosters anti-social doctrines, which +serve a man as footholds by which to rise above his superiors. May we +not dignify with the title of proverb the pregnant saying, "Tell me what +thou hast, and I will tell thee of what thou art thinking"? + +Though Adolphe loved his wife, his hourly thought was: "I have made +a mistake; I have three balls and chains, but I have only two legs. I +ought to have made my fortune before I married. I could have found an +Adeline any day; but Adeline stands in the way of my getting a fortune +now." + +Adolphe had been to see his relation Gaubertin three times in three +years. A few words exchanged between them let Gaubertin see the muck of +a soul ready to ferment under the hot temptations of legal robbery. He +warily sounded a nature that could be warped to the exigencies of any +plan, provided it was profitable. At each of the three visits Sibilet +grumbled at his fate. + +"Employ me, cousin," he said; "take me as a clerk and make me your +successor. You shall see how I work. I am capable of overthrowing +mountains to give my Adeline, I won't say luxury, but a modest +competence. You made Monsieur Leclercq's fortune; why won't you put me +in a bank in Paris?" + +"Some day, later on, I'll find you a place," Gaubertin would say; +"meantime make friends and acquaintance; such things help." + +Under these circumstances the letter which Madame Soudry hastily +dispatched brought Sibilet to Soulanges through a region of castles in +the air. His father-in-law, Sarcus, whom the Soudrys advised to take +steps in the interest of his daughter, had gone in the morning to see +the general and to propose Adolphe for the vacant post. By advice of +Madame Soudry, who was the oracle of the little town, the worthy man had +taken his daughter with him; and the sight of her had had a favorable +effect upon the Comte de Montcornet. + +"I shall not decide," he answered, "without thoroughly informing +myself about all applicants; but I will not look elsewhere until I have +examined whether or not your son-in-law possesses the requirements for +the place." Then, turning to Madame Sibilet he added, "The satisfaction +of settling so charming a person at Les Aigues--" + +"The mother of two children, general," said Adeline, adroitly, to evade +the gallantry of the old cuirassier. + +All the general's inquiries were cleverly anticipated by the Soudrys, +Gaubertin, and Lupin, who quietly obtained for their candidate the +influence of the leading lawyers in the capital of the department, where +a royal court held sessions,--such as Counsellor Gendrin, a +distant relative of the judge at Ville-aux-Fayes; Baron Bourlac, +attorney-general; and another counsellor named Sarcus, a cousin thrice +removed of the candidate. The verdict of every one to whom the general +applies was favorable to the poor clerk,--"so interesting," as they +called him. His marriage had made Sibilet as irreproachable as a novel +of Miss Edgeworth's, and presented him, moreover, in the light of a +disinterested man. + +The time which the dismissed steward remained at Les Aigues until his +successor could be appointed was employed in creating troubles and +annoyances for his late master; one of the little scenes which he thus +played off will give an idea of several others. + +The morning of his final departure he contrived to meet, as it were +accidentally, Courtecuisse, the only keeper then employed at Les Aigues, +the great extent of which really needed at least three. + +"Well, Monsieur Gaubertin," said Courtecuisse, "so you have had trouble +with the count?" + +"Who told you that?" answered Gaubertin. "Well, yes; the general +expected to order us about as he did his cavalry; he didn't know +Burgundians. The count is not satisfied with my services, and as I am +not satisfied with his ways, we have dismissed each other, almost +with fisticuffs, for he raged like a whirlwind. Take care of yourself, +Courtecuisse! Ah! my dear fellow, I expected to give you a better +master." + +"I know that," said the keeper, "and I'd have served you well. Hang it, +when friends have known each other for twenty years, you know! You put +me here in the days of the poor dear sainted Madame. Ah, what a good +woman she was! none like her now! The place has lost a mother." + +"Look here, Courtecuisse, if you are willing, you might help us to a +fine stroke." + +"Then you are going to stay here? I heard you were off to Paris." + +"No; I shall wait to see how things turn out; meantime I shall do +business at Ville-aux-Fayes. The general doesn't know what he is dealing +with in these parts; he'll make himself hated, don't you see? I shall +wait for what turns up. Do your work here gently; he'll tell you to +manage the people with a high hand, for he begins to see where his crops +and his woods are running to; but you'll not be such a fool as to +let the country-folk maul you, and perhaps worse, for the sake of his +timber." + +"But he would send me away, dear Monsieur Gaubertin, he would get rid of +me! and you know how happy I am living there at the gate of the Avonne." + +"The general will soon get sick of the whole place," replied Gaubertin; +"you wouldn't be long out even if he did happen to send you away. +Besides, you know those woods," he added, waving his hand at the +landscape; "I am stronger there than the masters." + +This conversation took place in an open field. + +"Those 'Arminac' Parisian fellows ought to stay in their own mud," said +the keeper. + +Ever since the quarrels of the fifteenth century the word 'Arminac' +(Armagnacs, Parisians, enemies of the Dukes of Burgundy) has continued +to be an insulting term along the borders of Upper Burgundy, where it is +differently corrupted according to locality. + +"He'll go back to it when beaten," said Gaubertin, "and we'll plough +up the park; for it is robbing the people to allow a man to keep nine +hundred acres of the best land in the valley for his own pleasure." + +"Four hundred families could get their living from it," said +Courtecuisse. + +"If you want two acres for yourself you must help us to drive that cur +out," remarked Gaubertin. + +At the very moment that Gaubertin was fulminating this sentence of +excommunication, the worthy Sarcus was presenting his son-in-law Sibilet +to the Comte de Montcornet. They had come with Adeline and the children +in a wicker carryall, lent by Sarcus's clerk, a Monsieur Gourdon, +brother of the Soulanges doctor, who was richer than the magistrate +himself. The general, pleased with the candor and dignity of the justice +of the peace, and with the graceful bearing of Adeline (both giving +pledges in good faith, for they were totally ignorant of the plans of +Gaubertin), at once granted all requests and gave such advantages to the +family of the new land-steward as to make the position equal to that of +a sub-prefect of the first class. + +A lodge, built by Bouret as an object in the landscape and also as a +home for the steward, an elegant little building, the architecture of +which was sufficiently shown in the description of the gate of Blangy, +was promised to the Sibilets for their residence. The general also +conceded the horse which Mademoiselle Laguerre had provided for +Gaubertin, in consideration of the size of the estate and the distance +he had to go to the markets where the business of the property was +transacted. He allowed two hundred bushels of wheat, three hogsheads +of wine, wood in sufficient quantity, oats and barley in abundance, +and three per cent on all receipts of income. Where the latter in +Mademoiselle Laguerre's time had amounted to forty thousand francs, the +general now, in 1818, in view of the purchases of land which Gaubertin +had made for her, expected to receive at least sixty thousand. The +new land-steward might therefore receive before long some two thousand +francs in money. Lodged, fed, warmed, relieved of taxes, the costs of +a horse and a poultry-yard defrayed for him, and allowed to plant a +kitchen-garden, with no questions asked as to the day's work of the +gardener, certainly such advantages represented much more than another +two thousand francs; for a man who was earning a miserable salary +of twelve hundred francs in a government office to step into the +stewardship of Les Aigues was a change from poverty to opulence. + +"Be faithful to my interests," said the general, "and I shall have more +to say to you. Doubtless I could get the collection of the rents of +Conches, Blangy, and Cerneux taken away from the collection of those of +Soulanges and given to you. In short, when you bring me in a clear sixty +thousand a year from Les Aigues you shall be still further rewarded." + +Unfortunately, the worthy justice and his daughter, in the flush of +their joy, told Madame Soudry the promise the general had made about +these collections, without reflecting that the present collector of +Soulanges, a man named Guerbet, brother of the postmaster of Conches, +was closely allied, as we shall see later, with Gaubertin and the +Gendrins. + +"It won't be so easy to do it, my dear," said Madame Soudry; "but don't +prevent the general from making the attempt; it is wonderful how easily +difficult things are done in Paris. I have seen the Chevalier Gluck at +dear Madame's feet to get her to sing his music, and she did,--she who +so adored Piccini, one of the finest men of his day; never did _he_ come +into Madame's room without catching me round the waist and calling me a +dear rogue." + +"Ha!" cried Soudry, when his wife reported this news, "does he think he +is going to lead the notary by the nose, and upset everything to +please himself and make the whole valley march in line, as he did his +cuirassiers? These military fellows have a habit of command!--but let's +have patience; Monsieur de Soulanges and Monsieur de Ronquerolles will +be on our side. Poor Guerbet! he little suspects who is trying to pluck +the best roses out of his garland!" + +Pere Guerbet, the collector of Soulanges, was the wit, that is to say, +the jovial companion of the little town, and a hero in Madame Soudry's +salon. Soudry's speech gives a fair idea of the opinion which now grew +up against the master of Les Aigues from Conches to Ville-aux-Fayes, +and wherever else the public mind could be reached and poisoned by +Gaubertin. + +The installation of Sibilet took place in the autumn of 1817. The year +1818 went by without the general being able to set foot at Les Aigues, +for his approaching marriage with Mademoiselle de Troisville, which was +celebrated in January, 1819, kept him the greater part of the summer +near Alencon, in the country-house of his prospective father-in-law. +General Montcornet possessed, besides Les Aigues and a magnificent house +in Paris, some sixty thousand francs a year in the Funds and the salary +of a retired lieutenant-general. Though Napoleon had made him a count +of the Empire and given him the following arms, a field quarterly, the +first, azure, bordure or, three pyramids argent; the second, vert, three +hunting horns argent; the third, gules, a cannon or on a gun-carriage +sable, and, in chief, a crescent or; the fourth, or, a crown vert, +with the motto (eminently of the middle ages!), "Sound the +charge,"--Montcornet knew very well that he was the son of a +cabinet-maker in the faubourg Saint-Antoine, though he was quite ready +to forget it. He was eaten up with the desire to be a peer of France, +and dreamed of his grand cordon of the Legion of honor, his Saint-Louis +cross, and his income of one hundred and forty thousand francs. Bitten +by the demon of aristocracy, the sight of the blue ribbon put him beside +himself. The gallant cuirassier of Essling would have licked up the +mud on the Pont-Royal to be invited to the house of a Navarreins, a +Lenoncourt, a Grandlieu, a Maufrigneuse, a d'Espard, a Vandenesse, a +Verneuil, a Herouville, or a Chaulieu. + +From 1818, when the impossibility of a change in favor of the Bonaparte +family was made clear to him, Montcornet had himself trumpeted in the +faubourg Saint-Germain by the wives of some of his friends, who offered +his hand and heart, his mansion and his fortune in return for an +alliance with some great family. + +After several attempts, the Duchesse de Carigliano found a match for the +general in one of the three branches of the Troisville family,--that of +the viscount in the service of Russia ever since 1789, who had returned +to France in 1815. The viscount, poor as a younger son, had married a +Princess Scherbellof, worth about a million, but the arrival of two +sons and three daughters kept him poor. His family, ancient and formerly +powerful, now consisted of the Marquis de Troisville, peer of France, +head of the house and scutcheon, and two deputies, with numerous +offspring, who were busy, for their part, with the budget and the +ministries and the court, like fishes round bits of bread. Therefore, +when Montcornet was presented by Madame de Carigliano,--the Napoleonic +duchess, who was now a most devoted adherent of the Bourbons, he was +favorably received. The general asked, in return for his fortune and +tender indulgence to his wife, to be appointed to the Royal Guard, +with the rank of marquis and peer of France; but the branches of the +Troisville family would do no more than promise him their support. + +"You know what that means," said the duchess to her old friend, who +complained of the vagueness of the promise. "They cannot oblige the king +to do as they wish; they can only influence him." + +Montcornet made Virginie de Troisville his heir in the marriage +settlements. Completely under the control of his wife, as Blondet's +letter has already shown, he was still without children, but Louis +XVIII. had received him, and given him the cordon of Saint-Louis, +allowing him to quarter his ridiculous arms with those of the +Troisvilles, and promising him the title of marquis as soon as he had +deserved the peerage by his services. + +A few days after the audience at which this promise had been given, the +Duc de Barry was assassinated; the Marsan clique carried the day; +the Villele ministry came into power, and all the wires laid by the +Troisvilles were snapped; it became necessary to find new ways of +fastening them upon the ministry. + +"We must bide our time," said the Troisvilles to Montcornet, who was +always overwhelmed with politeness in the faubourg Saint-Germain. + +This will explain how it was that the general did not return to Les +Aigues until May, 1820. + +The ineffable happiness of the son of a shop-keeper of the faubourg +Saint-Antoine in possessing a young, elegant, intelligent, and gentle +wife, a Troisville, who had given him an entrance into all the salons +of the faubourg Saint-Germain, and the delight of making her enjoy the +pleasures of Paris, had kept him from Les Aigues and made him forget +about Gaubertin, even to his very name. In 1820 he took the countess to +Burgundy to show her the estate, and he accepted Sibilet's accounts and +leases without looking closely into them; happiness never cavils. The +countess, well pleased to find the steward's wife a charming young +woman, made presents to her and to the children, with whom she +occasionally amused herself. She ordered a few changes at Les Aigues, +having sent to Paris for an architect; proposing, to the general's great +delight, to spend six months of every year on this magnificent estate. +Montcornet's savings were soon spent on the architectural work and the +exquisite new furniture sent from Paris. Les Aigues thus received the +last touch which made it a choice example of all the diverse elegancies +of four centuries. + +In 1821 the general was almost peremptorily urged by Sibilet to be at +Les Aigues before the month of May. Important matters had to be decided. +A lease of nine years, to the amount of thirty thousand francs, granted +by Gaubertin in 1812 to a wood-merchant, fell in on the 15th of May of +the current year. Sibilet, anxious to prove his rectitude, was unwilling +to be responsible for the renewal of the lease. "You know, Monsieur le +comte," he wrote, "that I do not choose to profit by such matters." +The wood-merchant claimed an indemnity, extorted from Madame Laguerre, +through her hatred of litigation, and shared by him with Gaubertin. This +indemnity was based on the injury done to the woods by the peasants, +who treated the forest of Les Aigues as if they had a right to cut the +timber. Messrs. Gravelot Brothers, wood-merchants in Paris, refused to +pay their last quarter dues, offering to prove by an expert that the +woods were reduced one-fifth in value, through, they said, the injurious +precedent established by Madame Laguerre. + +"I have already," wrote Sibilet, "sued these men in the courts at +Ville-aux-Fayes, for they have taken legal residence there, on account +of this lease, with my old employer, Maitre Corbinet. I fear we shall +lose the suit." + +"It is a question of income, my dear," said the general, showing the +letter to his wife. "Will you go down to Les Aigues a little earlier +this year than last?" + +"Go yourself, and I will follow you when the weather is warmer," said +the countess, not sorry to remain in Paris alone. + +The general, who knew very well the canker that was eating into his +revenues, departed without his wife, resolved to take vigorous measures. +In so doing he reckoned, as we shall see, without his Gaubertin. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE GREAT REVOLUTIONS OF A LITTLE VALLEY + + +"Well, Maitre Sibilet," said the general to his steward, the morning +after his arrival, giving him a familiar title which showed how much he +appreciated his services, "so we are, to use a ministerial phrase, at a +crisis?" + +"Yes, Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, following the general. + +The fortunate possessor of Les Aigues was walking up and down in front +of the steward's house, along a little terrace where Madame Sibilet grew +flowers, at the end of which was a wide stretch of meadow-land watered +by the canal which Blondet has described. From this point the chateau of +Les Aigues was seen in the distance, and in like manner the profile, as +it were, of the steward's lodge was seen from Les Aigues. + +"But," resumed the general, "what's the difficulty? If I do lose the +suit against the Gravelots, a money wound is not mortal, and I'll +have the leasing of my forest so well advertised that there will be +competition, and I shall sell the timber at its true value." + +"Business is not done in that way, Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet. +"Suppose you get no lessees, what will you do?" + +"Cut the timber myself and sell it--" + +"You, a wood merchant?" said Sibilet. "Well, without looking at matters +here, how would it be in Paris? You would have to hire a wood-yard, +pay for a license and the taxes, also for the right of navigation, and +duties, and the costs of unloading; besides the salary of a trustworthy +agent--" + +"Yes, it is impracticable," said the general hastily, alarmed at the +prospect. "But why can't I find persons to lease the right of cutting +timber as before?" + +"Monsieur le comte has enemies." + +"Who are they?" + +"Well, in the first place, Monsieur Gaubertin." + +"Do you mean the scoundrel whose place you took?" + +"Not so loud, Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, showing fear; "I beg of +you, not so loud,--my cook might hear us." + +"Do you mean to tell me that I am not to speak on my own estate of a +villain who robbed me?" cried the general. + +"For the sake of your own peace and comfort, come further away, Monsieur +le comte. Monsieur Gaubertin is mayor of Ville-aux-Fayes." + +"Ha! I congratulate Ville-aux-Fayes. Thunder! what a nobly governed +town!--" + +"Do me the honor to listen, Monsieur le comte, and to believe that I +am talking of serious matters which may affect your future life in this +place." + +"I am listening; let us sit down on this bench here." + +"Monsieur le comte, when you dismissed Gaubertin, he had to find some +employment, for he was not rich--" + +"Not rich! when he stole twenty thousand francs a year from this +estate?" + +"Monsieur le comte, I don't pretend to excuse him," replied Sibilet. "I +want to see Les Aigues prosperous, if it were only to prove Gaubertin's +dishonest; but we ought not to abuse him openly for he is one of the +most dangerous scoundrels to be found in all Burgundy, and he is now in +a position to injure you." + +"In what way?" asked the general, sobering down. + +"Gaubertin has control of nearly one third of the supplies sent to +Paris. As general agent of the timber business, he orders all the work +of the forests,--the felling, chopping, floating, and sending to market. +Being in close relations with the workmen, he is the arbiter of prices. +It has taken him three years to create this position, but he holds it +now like a fortress. He is essential to all dealers, never favoring one +more than another; he regulates the whole business in their interests, +and their affairs are better and more cheaply looked after by him +than they were in the old time by separate agents for each firm. For +instance, he has so completely put a stop to competition that he has +absolute control of the auction sales; the crown and the State are +both dependent on him. Their timber is sold under the hammer and falls +invariably to Gaubertin's dealers; in fact, no others attempt now to +bid against them. Last year Monsieur Mariotte, of Auxerre, urged by +the commissioner of domains, did attempt to compete with Gaubertin. At +first, Gaubertin let him buy the standing wood at the usual prices; but +when it came to cutting it, the Avonnais workmen asked such enormous +prices that Monsieur Mariotte was obliged to bring laborers from +Auxerre, whom the Ville-aux-Fayes workmen attacked and drove away. The +head of the coalition, and the ringleader of the brawl were brought +before the police court, and the suits cost Monsieur Mariotte a great +deal of money; for, besides the odium of having convicted and punished +poor men, he was forced to pay all costs, because the losing side had +not a farthing to do it with. A suit against laboring men is sure to +result in hatred to those who live among them. Let me warn you of this; +for if you follow the course you propose, you will have to fight against +the poor of this district at least. But that's not all. Counting it +over, Monsieur Mariotte, a worthy man, found he was the loser by his +original lease. Forced to pay ready money, he was nevertheless obliged +to sell on time; Gaubertin delivered his timber at long credits for the +purpose of ruining his competitor. He undersold him by at least five per +cent, and the end of it is that poor Mariotte's credit is badly shaken. +Gaubertin is now pressing and harassing the poor man so that he is +driven, they tell me, to leave not only Auxerre, but even Burgundy +itself; and he is right. In this way land-owners have long been +sacrificed to dealers who now set the market-prices, just as the +furniture-dealers in Paris dictate values to appraisers. But Gaubertin +saves the owners so much trouble and worry that they are really +gainers." + +"How so?" asked the general. + +"In the first place, because the less complicated a business is, the +greater the profits to the owners," answered Sibilet. "Besides which, +their income is more secure; and in all matters of rural improvement +and development that is the main thing, as you will find out. Then, too, +Monsieur Gaubertin is the friend and patron of working-men; he pays them +well and keeps them always at work; therefore, though their families +live on the estates, the woods leased to dealers and belonging to the +land-owners who trust the care of their property to Gaubertin (such as +MM. de Soulanges and de Ronquerolles) are not devastated. The dead wood +is gathered up, but that is all--" + +"That rascal Gaubertin has lost no time!" cried the general. + +"He is a bold man," said Sibilet. "He really is, as he calls himself, +the steward of the best half of the department, instead of being merely +the steward of Les Aigues. He makes a little out of everybody, and +that little on every two millions brings him in forty to fifty thousand +francs a year. He says himself, 'The fires on the Parisian hearths pay +it all.' He is your enemy, Monsieur le comte. My advice to you is to +capitulate and be reconciled with him. He is intimate, as you know, with +Soudry, the head of the gendarmerie at Soulanges; with Monsieur Rigou, +our mayor at Blangy; the patrols are under his influence; therefore you +will find it impossible to repress the pilferings which are eating into +your estate. During the last two years your woods have been devastated. +Consequently the Gravelots are more than likely to win their suit. They +say, very truly: 'According to the terms of the lease, the care of +the woods is left to the owner; he does not protect them, and we are +injured; the owner is bound to pay us damages.' That's fair enough; but +it doesn't follow that they should win their case." + +"We must be ready to defend this suit at all costs," said the general, +"and then we shall have no more of them." + +"You shall gratify Gaubertin," remarked Sibilet. + +"How so?" + +"Suing the Gravelots is the same as a hand to hand fight with Gaubertin, +who is their agent," answered Sibilet. "He asks nothing better than +such a suit. He declares, so I hear, that he will bring you if necessary +before the Court of Appeals." + +"The rascal! the--" + +"If you attempt to work your own woods," continued Sibilet, turning the +knife in the wound, "you will find yourself at the mercy of workmen who +will force you to pay rich men's prices instead of market-prices. In +short, they'll put you, as they did that poor Mariotte, in a position +where you must sell at a loss. If you then try to lease the woods you +will get no tenants, for you cannot expect that any one should take +risks for himself which Mariotte only took for the crown and the State. +Suppose a man talks of his losses to the government! The government is a +gentleman who is, like your obedient servant when he was in its employ, +a worthy man with a frayed overcoat, who reads the newspapers at a +desk. Let his salary be twelve hundred or twelve thousand francs, his +disposition is the same, it is not a whit softer. Talk of reductions +and releases from the public treasury represented by the said gentleman! +He'll only pooh-pooh you as he mends his pen. No, the law is the wrong +road for you, Monsieur le comte." + +"Then what's to be done?" cried the general, his blood boiling as he +tramped up and down before the bench. + +"Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, abruptly, "what I say to you is not +for my own interests, certainly; but I advise you to sell Les Aigues and +leave the neighborhood." + +On hearing these words the general sprang back as if a cannon-ball had +struck him; then he looked at Sibilet with a shrewd, diplomatic eye. + +"A general of the Imperial Guard running away from the rascals, when +Madame la comtesse likes Les Aigues!" he said. "No, I'll sooner box +Gaubertin's ears on the market-place of Ville-aux-Fayes, and force him +to fight me that I may shoot him like a dog." + +"Monsieur le comte, Gaubertin is not such a fool as to let himself be +brought into collision with you. Besides, you could not openly insult +the mayor of so important a place as Ville-aux-Fayes." + +"I'll have him turned out; the Troisvilles can do that for me; it is a +question of income." + +"You won't succeed, Monsieur le comte; Gaubertin's arms are long; you +will get yourself into difficulties from which you cannot escape." + +"Let us think of the present," interrupted the general. "About that +suit?" + +"That, Monsieur le comte, I can manage to win for you," replied Sibilet, +with a knowing glance. + +"Bravo, Sibilet!" said the general, shaking his steward's hand; "how are +you going to do it?" + +"You will win it on a writ of error," replied Sibilet. "In my opinion +the Gravelots have the right of it. But it is not enough to be in the +right, they must also be in order as to legal forms, and that they have +neglected. The Gravelots ought to have summoned you to have the woods +better watched. They can't ask for indemnity, at the close of a lease, +for damages which they know have been going on for nine years; there +is a clause in the lease as to this, on which we can file a bill of +exceptions. You will lose the suit at Ville-aux-Fayes, possibly in the +upper court as well, but we will carry it to Paris and you will win at +the Court of Appeals. The costs will be heavy and the expenses ruinous. +You will have to spend from twelve to fifteen thousand francs merely to +win the suit,--but you will win it, if you care to. The suit will only +increase the enmity of the Gravelots, for the expenses will be even +heavier on them. You will be their bugbear; you will be called litigious +and calumniated in every way; still, you can win--" + +"Then, what's to be done?" repeated the general, on whom Sibilet's +arguments were beginning to produce the effect of a violent poison. + +Just then the remembrance of the blows he had given Gaubertin with +his cane crossed his mind, and made him wish he had bestowed them on +himself. His flushed face was enough to show Sibilet the irritation that +he felt. + +"You ask me what can be done, Monsieur le comte? Why, only one thing, +compromise; but of course you can't negotiate that yourself. I must be +thought to cheat you! We, poor devils, whose only fortune and comfort +is in our good name, it is hard on us to even seem to do a questionable +thing. We are always judged by appearances. Gaubertin himself saved +Mademoiselle Laguerre's life during the Revolution, but it seemed to +others that he was robbing her. She rewarded him in her will with a +diamond worth ten thousand francs, which Madame Gaubertin now wears on +her head." + +The general gave Sibilet another glance still more diplomatic than the +first; but the steward seemed to take no notice of the challenge it +expressed. + +"If I were to appear dishonest, Monsieur Gaubertin would be so overjoyed +that I could instantly obtain his help," continued Sibilet. "He would +listen with all his ears if I said to him: 'Suppose I were to extort +twenty thousand francs from Monsieur le comte for Messrs. Gravelot, on +condition that they shared them with me?' If your adversaries consented +to that, Monsieur le comte, I should return you ten thousand francs; you +lose only the other ten, you save appearances, and the suit is quashed." + +"You are a fine fellow, Sibilet," said the general, taking his hand and +shaking it. "If you can manage the future as well as you do the present, +I'll call you the prince of stewards." + +"As to the future," said Sibilet, "you won't die of hunger if no timber +is cut for two or three years. Let us begin by putting proper keepers +in the woods. Between now and then things will flow as the water does +in the Avonne. Gaubertin may die, or get rich enough to retire from +business; at any rate, you will have sufficient time to find him a +competitor. The cake is too rich not to be shared. Look for another +Gaubertin to oppose the original." + +"Sibilet," said the old soldier, delighted with this variety of +solutions. "I'll give you three thousand francs if you'll settle the +matter as you propose. For the rest, we'll think about it." + +"Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, "first and foremost have the forest +properly watched. See for yourself the condition in which the peasantry +have put it during your two years' absence. What could I do? I am +steward; I am not a bailiff. To guard Les Aigues properly you need a +mounted patrol and three keepers." + +"I certainly shall have the estate properly guarded. So it is to be war, +is it? Very good, then we shall make war. That doesn't frighten me," +said Montcornet, rubbing his hands. + +"A war of francs," said Sibilet; "and you may find that more difficult +than the other kind; men can be killed but you can't kill self-interest. +You will fight your enemy on the battle-field where all landlords are +compelled to fight,--I mean cash results. It is not enough to produce, +you must sell; and in order to sell, you must be on good terms with +everybody." + +"I shall have the country people on my side." + +"By what means?" + +"By doing good among them." + +"Doing good to the valley peasants! to the petty shopkeepers of +Soulanges!" exclaimed Sibilet, squinting horribly, by reason of the +irony which flamed brighter in one eye than in the other. "Monsieur le +comte doesn't know what he undertakes. Our Lord Jesus Christ would die +again upon the cross in this valley! If you wish an easy life, follow +the example of the late Mademoiselle Laguerre; let yourself be robbed, +or else make people afraid of you. Women, children, and the masses are +all governed by fear. That was the great secret of the Convention, and +of the Emperor, too." + +"Good heavens! is this the forest of Bondy?" cried the general. + +"My dear," said Sibilet's wife, appearing at this moment, "your +breakfast is ready. Pray excuse him, Monsieur le comte; he has eaten +nothing since morning for he was obliged to go to Ronquerolles to +deliver some barley." + +"Go, go, Sibilet," said the general. + +The next morning the count rose early, before daylight, and went to +the gate of the Avonne, intending to talk with the one forester whom he +employed and find out what the man's sentiments really were. + +Some seven or eight hundred acres of the forest of Les Aigues lie along +the banks of the Avonne; and to preserve the majestic beauty of the +river the large trees that border it have been left untouched for a +distance of three leagues on both sides in an almost straight line. The +mistress of Henri IV., to whom Les Aigues formerly belonged, was as fond +of hunting as the king himself. In 1593 she ordered a bridge to be built +of a single arch with shelving roadway by which to ride from the lower +side of the forest to a much larger portion of it, purchased by her, +which lay upon the slopes of the hills. The gate of the Avonne was built +as a place of meeting for the huntsmen; and we know the magnificence +bestowed by the architects of that day upon all buildings intended for +the delight of the crown and the nobility. Six avenues branched away +from it, their place of meeting forming a half-moon. In the centre of +the semi-circular space stood an obelisk surmounted by a round shield, +formerly gilded, bearing on one side the arms of Navarre and on the +other those of the Countess de Moret. Another half-moon, on the side +toward the river, communicated with the first by a straight avenue, at +the opposite end of which the steep rise of the Venetian-shaped bridge +could be seen. Between two elegant iron railings of the same character +as that of the magnificent railing which formerly surrounded the garden +of the Place Royale in Paris, now so unfortunately destroyed, stood +a brick pavilion, with stone courses hewn in facets like those of the +chateau, with a very pointed roof and window-casings of stone cut in +the same manner. This old style, which gave the building a regal air, is +suitable only to prisons when used in cities; but standing in the heart +of forests it derives from its surroundings a splendor of its own. +A group of trees formed a screen, behind which the kennels, an old +falconry, a pheasantry, and the quarters of the huntsmen were falling +into ruins, after being in their day the wonder and admiration of +Burgundy. + +In 1595, the royal hunting-parties set forth from this magnificent +pavilion, preceded by those fine dogs so dear to Rubens and to Paul +Veronese; the huntsmen mounted on high-steeping steeds with stout and +blue-white satiny haunches, seen no longer except in Wouverman's amazing +work, followed by footmen in livery; the scene enlivened by whippers-in, +wearing the high top-boots with facings and the yellow leathern breeches +which have come down to the present day on the canvas of Van der Meulen. +The obelisk was erected in commemoration of the visit of the Bearnais, +and his hunt with the beautiful Comtesse de Moret; the date is given +below the arms of Navarre. That jealous woman, whose son was afterwards +legitimatized, would not allow the arms of France to figure on the +obelisk, regarding them as a rebuke. + +At the time of which we write, when the general's eyes rested on this +splendid ruin, moss had gathered for centuries on the four faces of +the roof; the hewn-stone courses, mangled by time, seemed to cry with +yawning mouths against the profanation; disjointed leaden settings let +fall their octagonal panes, so that the windows seemed blind of an eye +here and there. Yellow wallflowers bloomed about the copings; ivy slid +its white rootlets into every crevice. + +All things bespoke a shameful want of care,--the seal set by mere +life-possessors on the ancient glories that they possess. Two windows +on the first floor were stuffed with hay. Through another, on the +ground-floor, was seen a room filled with tools and logs of wood; while +a cow pushed her muzzle through a fourth, proving that Courtecuisse, to +avoid having to walk from the pavilion to the pheasantry, had turned the +large hall of the central building into a stable,--a hall with panelled +ceiling, and in the centre of each panel the arms of all the various +possessors of Les Aigues! + +Black and dirty palings disgraced the approach to the pavilion, making +square inclosures with plank roofs for pigs, ducks, and hens, the manure +of which was taken away every six months. A few ragged garments were +hung to dry on the brambles which boldly grew unchecked here and +there. As the general came along the avenue from the bridge, Madame +Courtecuisse was scouring a saucepan in which she had just made her +coffee. The forester, sitting on a chair in the sun, considered his +wife as a savage considers his. When he heard a horse's hoofs he turned +round, saw the count, and seemed taken aback. + +"Well, Courtecuisse, my man," said the general, "I'm not surprised that +the peasants cut my woods before Messrs. Gravelot can do so. So you +consider your place a sinecure?" + +"Indeed, Monsieur le comte, I have watched the woods so many nights that +I'm ill from it. I've got a chill, and I suffer such pain this morning +that my wife has just made me a poultice in that saucepan." + +"My good fellow," said the count, "I don't know of any pain that a +coffee poultice cures except that of hunger. Listen to me, you rascal! I +rode through my forest yesterday, and then through those of Monsieur de +Soulanges and Monsieur de Ronquerolles. Theirs are carefully watched and +preserved, while mine is in a shameful state." + +"Ah, monsieur! but they are the old lords of the neighborhood; everybody +respects their property. How can you expect me to fight against six +districts? I care for my life more than for your woods. A man who would +undertake to watch your woods as they ought to be watched would get a +ball in his head for wages in some dark corner of the forest--" + +"Coward!" cried the general, trying to control the anger the man's +insolent reply provoked in him. "Last night was as clear as day, yet it +cost me three hundred francs in actual robbery and over a thousand in +future damages. You will leave my service unless you do better. All +wrong-doing deserves some mercy; therefore these are my conditions: You +may have the fines, and I will pay you three francs for every indictment +you bring against these depredators. If I don't get what I expect, you +know what you have to expect, and no pension either. Whereas, if you +serve me faithfully and contrive to stop these depredations, I'll give +you an annuity of three hundred francs for life. You can think it over. +Here are six ways," continued the count, pointing to the branching +roads; "there's only one for you to take,--as for me also, who am not +afraid of balls; try and find the right one." + +Courtecuisse, a small man about forty-six years of age, with a full-moon +face, found his greatest happiness in doing nothing. He expected to live +and die in that pavilion, now considered by him _his_ pavilion. His two +cows were pastured in the forest, from which he got his wood; and +he spent his time in looking after his garden instead of after the +delinquents. Such neglect of duty suited Gaubertin, and Courtecuisse +knew it did. The keeper chased only those depredators who were the +objects of his personal dislike,--young women who would not yield to his +wishes, or persons against whom he held a grudge; though for some time +past he had really felt no dislikes, for every one yielded to him on +account of his easy-going ways with them. + +Courtecuisse had a place always kept for him at the table of the +Grand-I-Vert; the wood-pickers feared him no longer; indeed, his wife +and he received many gifts in kind from them; his wood was brought in; +his vineyard dug; in short, all delinquents at whom he blinked did him +service. + +Counting on Gaubertin for the future, and feeling sure of two acres +whenever Les Aigues should be brought to the hammer, he was roughly +awakened by the curt speech of the general, who, after four quiescent +years, was now revealing his true character,--that of a bourgeois rich +man who was determined to be no longer deceived. Courtecuisse took his +cap, his game-bag, and his gun, put on his gaiters and his belt +(which bore the very recent arms of Montcornet), and started for +Ville-aux-Fayes, with the careless, indifferent air and manner under +which country-people often conceal very deep reflections, while he gazed +at the woods and whistled to the dogs to follow him. + +"What! you complain of the Shopman when he proposes to make your +fortune?" said Gaubertin. "Doesn't the fool offer to give you three +francs for every arrest you make, and the fines to boot? Have an +understanding with your friends and you can bring as many indictments as +you please,--hundreds if you like! With one thousand francs you can +buy La Bachelerie from Rigou, become a property owner, live in your own +house, and work for yourself, or rather, make others work for you, and +take your ease. Only--now listen to me--you must manage to arrest only +such as haven't a penny in the world. You can't shear sheep unless +the wool is on their backs. Take the Shopman's offer and leave him to +collect the costs,--if he wants them; tastes differ. Didn't old Mariotte +prefer losses to profits, in spite of my advice?" + +Courtecuisse, filled with admiration for these words of wisdom, returned +home burning with the desire to be a land-owner and a bourgeois like the +rest. + +When the general reached Les Aigues he related his expedition to +Sibilet. + +"Monsieur le comte did very right," said the steward, rubbing his hands; +"but he must not stop short half-way. The field-keeper of the district +who allows the country-people to prey upon the meadows and rob the +harvests ought to be changed. Monsieur le comte should have himself +chosen mayor, and appoint one of his old soldiers, who would have +the courage to carry out his orders, in place of Vaudoyer. A great +land-owner should be master in his own district. Just see what +difficulties we have with the present mayor!" + +The mayor of the district of Blangy, formerly a Benedictine, named +Rigou, had married, in the first year of the Republic, the servant-woman +of the late priest of Blangy. In spite of the repugnance which a married +monk excited at the Prefecture, he had continued to be mayor after 1815, +for the reason that there was no-one else at Blangy who was capable of +filling the post. But in 1817, when the bishop sent the Abbe Brossette +to the parish of Blangy (which had then been vacant over twenty-five +years), a violent opposition not unnaturally broke out between the old +apostate and the young ecclesiastic, whose character is already known to +us. The war which was then and there declared between the mayor's office +and the parsonage increased the popularity of the magistrate, who +had hitherto been more or less despised. Rigou, whom the peasants had +disliked for usurious dealings, now suddenly represented their political +and financial interests, supposed to be threatened by the Restoration, +and more especially by the clergy. + +A copy of the "Constitutionnel," that great organ of liberalism, after +making the rounds of the Cafe de la Paix, came back to Rigou on the +seventh day,--the subscription, standing in the name of old Socquard the +keeper of the coffee-house, being shared by twenty persons. Rigou passed +the paper on to Langlume the miller, who, in turn, gave it in shreds to +any one who knew how to read. The "Paris items," and the anti-religion +jokes of the liberal sheet formed the public opinion of the valley des +Aigues. Rigou, like the _venerable_ Abbe Gregoire, became a hero. +For him, as for certain Parisian bankers, politics spread a mantle of +popularity over his shameful dishonesty. + +At this particular time the perjured monk, like Francois Keller the +great orator, was looked upon as a defender of the rights of the +people,--he who, not so very long before, dared not walk in the fields +after dark, lest he should stumble into pitfalls where he would seem to +have been killed by accident! Persecute a man politically and you not +only magnify him, but you redeem his past and make it innocent. The +liberal party was a great worker of miracles in this respect. Its +dangerous journal, which had the wit to make itself as commonplace, as +calumniating, as credulous, and as sillily perfidious as every audience +made up the general masses, did in all probability as much injury to +private interests as it did to those of the Church. + +Rigou flattered himself that he should find in a Bonapartist general +now laid on the shelf, in a son of the people raised from nothing by +the Revolution, a sound enemy to the Bourbons and the priests. But the +general, bearing in mind his private ambitions, so arranged matters as +to evade the visit of Monsieur and Madame Rigou when he first came to +Les Aigues. + +When you have become better acquainted with the terrible character of +Rigou, the lynx of the valley, you will understand the full extent of +the second capital blunder which the general's aristocratic ambitions +led him to commit, and which the countess made all the greater by an +offence which will be described in the further history of Rigou. + +If Montcornet had courted the mayor's good-will, if he had sought his +friendship, perhaps the influence of the renegade might have neutralized +that of Gaubertin. Far from that, three suits were now pending in the +courts of Ville-aux-Fayes between the general and the ex-monk. Until the +present time the general had been so absorbed in his personal interests +and in his marriage that he had never remembered Rigou, but when +Sibilet advised him to get himself made mayor in Rigou's place, he took +post-horses and went to see the prefect. + +The prefect, Comte Martial de la Roche-Hugon, had been a friend of the +general since 1804; and it was a word from him said to Montcornet in a +conversation in Paris, which brought about the purchase of Les Aigues. +Comte Martial, a prefect under Napoleon, remained a prefect under the +Bourbons, and courted the bishop to retain his place. Now it happened +that Monseigneur had several times requested him to get rid of Rigou. +Martial, to whom the condition of the district was perfectly well known, +was delighted with the general's request; so that in less than a month +the Comte de Montcornet was mayor of Blangy. + +By one of those accidents which come about naturally, the general met, +while at the prefecture where his friend put him up, a non-commissioned +officer of the ex-Imperial guard, who had been cheated out of his +retiring pension. The general had already, under other circumstances, +done a service to the brave cavalryman, whose name was Groison; the +man, remembering it, now told him his troubles, admitting that he was +penniless. The general promised to get him his pension, and proposed +that he should take the place of field-keeper to the district of Blangy, +as a way of paying off his score of gratitude by devotion to the +new mayor's interests. The appointments of master and man were made +simultaneously, and the general gave, as may be supposed, very firm +instructions to his subordinate. + +Vaudoyer, the displaced keeper, a peasant on the Ronquerolles estate, +was only fit, like most field-keepers, to stalk about, and gossip, and +let himself be petted by the poor of the district, who asked nothing +better than to corrupt at subaltern authority,--the advanced guard, as +it were, of the land-owners. He knew Soudry, the brigadier at +Soulanges, for brigadiers of gendarmerie, performing functions that are +semi-judicial in drawing up criminal indictments, have much to do with +the rural keepers, who are, in fact, their natural spies. Soudry, +being appealed to, sent Vaudoyer to Gaubertin, who received his old +acquaintance very cordially, and invited him to drink while listening to +the recital of his troubles. + +"My dear friend," said the mayor of Ville-aux-Fayes, who could talk to +every man in his own language, "what has happened to you is likely +to happen to us all. The nobles are back upon us. The men to whom the +Emperor gave titles make common cause with the old nobility. They all +want to crush the people, re-establish their former rights and take +our property from us. But we are Burgundians; we must resist, and drive +those Arminacs back to Paris. Return to Blangy; you shall be agent for +Monsieur Polissard, the wood-merchant, who is contractor for the forest +of Ronquerolles. Don't be uneasy, my lad; I'll find you enough to do for +the whole of the coming year. But remember one thing; the wood is for +ourselves! Not a single depredation, or the thing is at an end. Send +all interlopers to Les Aigues. If there's brush or fagots to sell make +people buy ours; don't let them buy of Les Aigues. You'll get back +to your place as field-keeper before long; this thing can't last. The +general will get sick of living among thieves. Did you know that +that Shopman called me a thief, me!--son of the stanchest and most +incorruptible of republicans; me!--the son in law of Mouchon, that +famous representative of the people, who died without leaving me enough +to bury him?" + +The general raised the salary of the new field-keeper to three hundred +francs; and built a town-hall, in which he gave him a residence. Then he +married him to a daughter of one of his tenant-farmers, who had lately +died, leaving her an orphan with three acres of vineyard. Groison +attached himself to the general as a dog to his master. This legitimate +fidelity was admitted by the whole community. The keeper was feared and +respected, but like the captain of a vessel whose ship's company hate +him; the peasantry shunned him as they would a leper. Met either in +silence or with sarcasms veiled under a show of good-humor, the new +keeper was a sentinel watched by other sentinels. He could do nothing +against such numbers. The delinquents took delight in plotting +depredations which it was impossible for him to prove, and the old +soldier grew furious at his helplessness. Groison found the excitement +of a war of factions in his duties, and all the pleasures of the +chase,--a chase after petty delinquents. Trained in real war to a +loyalty which consists in part of playing a fair game, this enemy of +traitors came at last to hate these people, so treacherous in their +conspiracies, and so clever in their thefts that they mortified his +self-esteem. He soon observed that the depredations were committed +only at Les Aigues; all the other estates were respected. At first +he despised a peasantry ungrateful enough to pillage a general of the +Empire, an essentially kind and generous man; presently, however, he +added hatred to contempt. But multiply himself as he would, he could +not be everywhere, and the enemy pillaged everywhere that he was not. +Groison made the general understand that it was necessary to organize +the defence on a war footing, and proved to him the insufficiency of his +own devoted efforts and the evil disposition of the inhabitants of the +valley. + +"There is something behind it all, general," he said; "these people are +so bold they fear nothing; they seem to rely on the favor of the good +God." + +"We shall see," replied the count. + +Fatal word! The verb "to see" has no future tense for politicians. + +At the moment, Montcornet was considering another difficulty, which +seemed to him more pressing. He needed an alter ego to do his work in +the mayor's office during the months he lived in Paris. Obliged to find +some man who knew how to read and write for the position of assistant +mayor, he knew of none and could hear of none throughout the district +but Langlume, the tenant of his own flour-mill. The choice was +disastrous. Not only were the interests of mayor and miller +diametrically opposed, but Langlume had long hatched swindling projects +with Rigou, who lent him money to carry on his business, or to acquire +property. The miller had bought the right to the hay of certain fields +for his horses, and Sibilet could not sell it except to him. The hay of +all the fields in the district was sold at better prices than that of +Les Aigues, though the yield of the latter was the best. + +Langlume, then, became the provisional mayor; but in France the +provisional is eternal,--though Frenchmen are suspected of loving +change. Acting by Rigou's advice, he played a part of great devotion to +the general; and he was still assistant-mayor at the moment when, by the +omnipotence of the historian, this drama begins. + +In the absence of the mayor, Rigou, necessarily a member of the +district council, reigned supreme, and brought forward resolutions all +injuriously affecting the general. At one time he caused money to be +spent for purposes that were profitable to the peasants only,--the +greater part of the expenses falling upon Les Aigues, which, by reason +of its great extent, paid two thirds of the taxes; at other times the +council refused, under his influence, certain useful and necessary +allowances, such as an increase in salary for the abbe, repairs or +improvements to the parsonage, or "wages" to the school-master. + +"If the peasants once know how to read and write, what will become of +us?" said Langlume, naively, to the general, to excuse this anti-liberal +action taken against a brother of the Christian Doctrine whom the Abbe +Brossette wished to establish as a public school-master in Blangy. + +The general, delighted with his old Groison, returned to Paris and +immediately looked about him for other old soldiers of the late imperial +guard, with whom to organize the defence of Les Aigues on a formidable +footing. By dint of searching out and questioning his friends and many +officers on half-pay, he unearthed Michaud, a former quartermaster at +headquarters of the cuirassiers of the guard; one of those men whom +troopers call "hard-to-cook," a nickname derived from the mess kitchen +where refractory beans are not uncommon. Michaud picked out from among +his friends and acquaintances, three other men fit to be his helpers, +and able to guard the estate without fear and without reproach. + +The first, named Steingel, a pure-blooded Alsacian, was a natural son of +the general of that name, who fell in one of Bonaparte's first victories +with the army of Italy. Tall and strong, he belonged to the class +of soldiers accustomed, like the Russians, to obey, passively and +absolutely. Nothing hindered him in the performance of his duty; he +would have collared an emperor or a pope if such were his orders. He +ignored danger. Perfectly fearless, he had never received the smallest +scratch during his sixteen years' campaigning. He slept in the open +air or in his bed with stoical indifference. At any increased labor or +discomfort, he merely remarked, "It seems to be the order of the day." + +The second man, Vatel, son of the regiment, corporal of voltigeurs, +gay as a lark, rather free and easy with the fair sex, brave to +foolhardiness, was capable of shooting a comrade with a laugh if ordered +to execute him. With no future before him and not knowing how to employ +himself, the prospect of finding an amusing little war in the functions +of keeper, attracted him; and as the grand army and the Emperor had +hitherto stood him in place of a religion, so now he swore to serve the +brave Montcornet against and through all and everything. His nature was +of that essentially wrangling quality to which a life without enemies +seems dull and objectless,--the nature, in short, of a litigant, or a +policeman. If it had not been for the presence of the sheriff's officer, +he would have seized Tonsard and the bundle of wood at the Grand-I-Vert, +snapping his fingers at the law on the inviolability of a man's +domicile. + +The third man, Gaillard, also an old soldier, risen to the rank of +sub-lieutenant, and covered with wounds, belonged to the class of +mechanical soldiers. The fate of the Emperor never left his mind and +he became indifferent to everything else. With the care of a natural +daughter on his hands, he accepted the place that was now offered to him +as a means of subsistence, taking it as he would have taken service in a +regiment. + +When the general reached Les Aigues, whither he had gone in advance +of his troopers, intending to send away Courtecuisse, he was amazed at +discovering the impudent audacity with which the keeper had fulfilled +his commands. There is a method of obeying which makes the obedience of +the servant a cutting sarcasm on the master's order. But all things +in this world can be reduced to absurdity, and Courtecuisse in this +instance went beyond its limits. + +One hundred and twenty-six indictments against depredators (most of whom +were in collusion with Courtecuisse) and sworn to before the justice +court of Soulanges, had resulted in sixty-nine commitments for trial, +in virtue of which Brunet, the sheriff's officer, delighted at such a +windfall of fees, had rigorously enforced the warrants in such a way +as to bring about what is called, in legal language, a declaration of +insolvency; a condition of pauperism where the law becomes of course +powerless. By this declaration the sheriff proves that the defendant +possesses no property of any kind, and is therefore a pauper. Where +there is absolutely nothing, the creditor, like the king, loses +his right to sue. The paupers in this case, carefully selected by +Courtecuisse, were scattered through five neighboring districts, whither +Brunet betook himself duly attended by his satellites, Vermichel and +Fourchon, to serve the writs. Later he transmitted the papers to Sibilet +with a bill of costs for five thousand francs, requesting him to obtain +the further orders of Monsieur le comte de Montcornet. + +Just as Sibilet, armed with these papers, was calmly explaining to the +count the result of the rash orders he had given to Courtecuisse, and +witnessing, as calmly, a burst of the most violent anger a general of +the French cavalry was ever known to indulge in, Courtecuisse entered +to pay his respects to his master and to bring his own account of eleven +hundred francs, the sum to which his promised commission now amounted. +The natural man took the bit in his teeth and ran off with the general, +who totally forgot his coronet and his field rank; he was a trooper once +more, vomiting curses of which he probably was ashamed when he thought +of them later. + +"Ha! eleven hundred francs!" he shouted, "eleven hundred slaps in your +face! eleven hundred kicks!--Do you think I can't see straight through +your lies? Out of my sight, or I'll strike you flat!" + +At the mere look of the general's purple face and before that warrior +could get out the last words, Courtecuisse was off like a swallow. + +"Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, gently, "you are wrong." + +"Wrong! I, wrong?" + +"Yes, Monsieur le comte, take care, you will have trouble with that +rascal; he will sue you." + +"What do I care for that? Tell the scoundrel to leave the place +instantly! See that he takes nothing of mine, and pay him his wages." + +Four hours later the whole country-side was gossiping about this scene. +The general, they said, had assaulted the unfortunate Courtecuisse, and +refused to pay his wages and two thousand francs besides, which he owed +him. Extraordinary stories went the rounds, and the master of Les +Aigues was declared insane. The next day Brunet, who had served all the +warrants for the general, now brought him on behalf of Courtecuisse a +summon to appear before the police court. The lion was stung by gnats; +but his misery was only just beginning. + +The installation of a keeper is not done without a few formalities; he +must, for instance, file an oath in the civil court. Some days therefore +elapsed before the three keepers really entered upon their functions. +Though the general had written to Michaud to bring his wife without +waiting until the lodge at the gate of the Avonne was ready for them, +the future head-keeper, or rather bailiff, was detained in Paris by his +marriage and his wife's family, and did not reach Les Aigues until +a fortnight later. During those two weeks, and during the time still +further required for certain formalities which were carried out with +very ill grace by the authorities at Ville-aux-Fayes, the forest of Les +Aigues was shamefully devastated by the peasantry, who took advantage of +the fact that there was practically no watch over it. + +The appearance of three keepers handsomely dressed in green cloth, +the Emperor's color, with faces denoting firmness, and each of them +well-made, active, and capable of spending their nights in the woods, +was a great event in the valley, from Conches to Ville-aux-Fayes. + +Throughout the district Groison was the only man who welcomed these +veterans. Delighted to be thus reinforced, he let fall a few threats +against thieves, who before long, he said, would be watched so closely +that they could do no damage. Thus the usual proclamation of all great +commanders was not lacking to the present war; in this case it was said +aloud and also whispered in secret. + +Sibilet called the general's attention to the fact that the gendarmerie +of Soulanges, and especially its brigadier, Soudry, were thoroughly and +hypocritically hostile to Les Aigues. He made him see the importance of +substituting another brigade, which might show a better spirit. + +"With a good brigadier and a company of gendarmes devoted to your +interests, you could manage the country," he said to him. + +The general went to the Prefecture and obtained from the general in +command of the division the retirement of Soudry and the substitution of +a man named Viallet, an excellent gendarme at headquarters, who was +much praised by his general and the prefect. The company of gendarmes +at Soulanges were dispersed to other places in the department by the +colonel of the gendarmerie, an old friend of Montcornet, and chosen +men were put in their places with secret orders to keep watch over the +estate of the Comte de Montcornet, and prevent all future attempts to +injure it; they were also particularly enjoined not to allow themselves +to be gained over by the inhabitants of Soulanges. + +This last revolutionary measure, carried out with such rapidity that +there was no possibility of countermining it created much astonishment +in Soulanges and in Ville-aux-Fayes. Soudry, who felt himself dismissed, +complained bitterly, and Gaubertin managed to get him appointed mayor, +which put the gendarmerie under his orders. An outcry was made about +tyranny. Montcornet became an object of general hatred. Not only were +five or six lives radically changed by him, but many personal vanities +were wounded. The peasants, taking their cue from words dropped by +the small tradesmen of Ville-aux-Fayes and Soulanges, and by Rigou, +Langlume, Guerbet, and the postmaster at Conches, thought they were on +the eve of losing what they called their rights. + +The general stopped the suit brought by Courtecuisse by paying him all +he demanded. The man then purchased, nominally for two thousand francs, +a little property surrounded on all sides but one by the estate of Les +Aigues,--a sort of cover into which the game escaped. Rigou, the owner, +had never been willing to part with La Bachelerie, as it was called, +to the possessors of the estate, but he now took malicious pleasure in +selling it, at fifty per cent discount, to Courtecuisse; which made the +ex-keeper one of Rigou's numerous henchmen, for all he actually paid for +the property was one thousand francs. + +The three keepers, with Michaud the bailiff, and Groison the +field-keeper of Blangy, led henceforth the life of guerrillas. Living +night and day in the forest, they soon acquired that deep knowledge of +woodland things which becomes a science among foresters, saving them +much loss of time; they studied the tracks of animals, the species of +the trees, and their habits of growth, training their ears to every +sound and to every murmur of the woods. Still further, they observed +faces, watched and understood the different families in the various +villages of the district, and knew the individuals in each family, their +habits, characters, and means of living,--a far more difficult matter +than most persons suppose. When the peasants who obtained their living +from Les Aigues saw these well-planned measures of defence, they met +them with dumb resistance or sneering submission. + +From the first, Michaud and Sibilet mutually disliked each other. The +frank and loyal soldier, with the sense of honor of a subaltern of the +young "garde," hated the servile brutality and the discontented spirit +of the steward. He soon took note of the objections with which Sibilet +opposed all measures that were really judicious, and the reasons he +gave for those that were questionable. Instead of calming the general, +Sibilet, as the reader has already seen, constantly excited him and +drove him to harsh measures, all the while trying to daunt him by +drawing his attention to countless annoyances, petty vexations, and +ever-recurring and unconquerable difficulties. Without suspecting the +role of spy and exasperator undertaken by Sibilet (who secretly intended +to eventually make choice in his own interests between Gaubertin and the +general) Michaud felt that the steward's nature was bad and grasping, +and he was unable to explain to himself its apparent honesty. The enmity +which separated the two functionaries was satisfactory to the general. +Michaud's hatred led him to watch the steward, though he would not have +condescended to play the part of spy if the general had not required it. +Sibilet fawned upon the bailiff and flattered him, without being able +to get anything from him beyond an extreme politeness which the loyal +soldier established between them as a barrier. + +Now, all preliminary details having been made known, the reader will +understand the conduct of the general's enemies and the meaning of the +conversation which he had with what he called his two ministers, after +Madame de Montcornet, the abbe, and Blondet left the breakfast-table. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. CONCERNING THE MEDIOCRACY + + +"Well, Michaud, what's the news?" asked the general as soon as his wife +had left the room. + +"General, if you will permit me to say so, it would be better not to +talk over matters in this room. Walls have ears, and I should like to be +certain that what we say reaches none but our own." + +"Very good," said the general, "then let us walk towards the steward's +lodge by the path through the fields; no one can overhear us there." + +A few moments later the general, with Michaud and Sibilet, was crossing +the meadows, while Madame de Montcornet, with the abbe and Blondet, was +on her way to the gate of the Avonne. + +Michaud related the scene that had just taken place at the Grand-I-Vert. + +"Vatel did wrong," said Sibilet. + +"They made that plain to him at once," replied Michaud, "by blinding +him; but that's nothing. General, you remember the plan we agreed +upon,--to seize the cattle of those depredators against whom judgment +was given? Well, we can't do it. Brunet, like his colleague Plissoud, is +not loyal in his support. They both warn the delinquents when they are +about to make a seizure. Vermichel, Brunet's assistant, went to the +Grand-I-Vert this morning, ostensibly after Pere Fourchon; and Marie +Tonsard, who is intimate with Bonnebault, ran off at once to give the +alarm at Conches. The depredations have begun again." + +"A strong show of authority is becoming daily more and more necessary," +said Sibilet. + +"What did I tell you?" cried the general. "We must demand the +enforcement of the judgment of the court, which carried with it +imprisonment; we must arrest for debt all those who do not pay the +damages I have won and the costs of the suits." + +"These fellows imagine the law is powerless, and tell each other that +you dare not arrest them," said Sibilet. "They think they frighten you! +They have confederates at Ville-aux-Fayes; for even the prosecuting +attorney seems to have ignored the verdicts against them." + +"I think," said Michaud, seeing that the general looked thoughtful, +"that if you are willing to spend a good deal of money you can still +protect the property." + +"It is better to spend money than to act harshly," remarked Sibilet. + +"What is your plan?" asked the general of his bailiff. + +"It is very simple," said Michaud. "Inclose the whole forest with walls, +like those of the park, and you will be safe; the slightest depredation +then becomes a criminal offence and is taken to the assizes." + +"At a franc and a half the square foot for the material only, Monsieur +le comte would find his wall would cost him a third of the whole value +of Les Aigues," said Sibilet, with a laugh. + +"Well, well," said Montcornet, "I shall go and see the attorney-general +at once." + +"The attorney-general," remarked Sibilet, gently, "may perhaps share the +opinion of his subordinate; for the negligence shown by the latter is +probably the result of an agreement between them." + +"Then I wish to know it!" cried Montcornet. "If I have to get the whole +of them turned out, judges, civil authorities, and the attorney-general +to boot, I'll do it; I'll go the Keeper of the Seals, or to the king +himself." + +At a vehement sign made by Michaud the general stopped short and said +to Sibilet, as he turned to retrace his steps, "Good day, my dear +fellow,"--words which the steward understood. + +"Does Monsieur le comte intend, as mayor, to enforce the necessary +measures to repress the abuse of gleaning?" he said, respectfully. +"The harvest is coming on, and if we are to publish the statutes about +certificates of pauperism and the prevention of paupers from other +districts gleaning our land, there is no time to be lost." + +"Do it at once, and arrange with Groison," said the count. "With such a +class of people," he added, "we must follow out the law." + +So, without a moment's reflection, Montcornet gave in to a measure that +Sibilet had been proposing to him for more than a fortnight, to which +he had hitherto refused to consent; but now, in the violence of anger +caused by Vatel's mishap, he instantly adopted it as the right thing to +do. + +When Sibilet was at some distance the general said in a low voice to his +bailiff:-- + +"Well, my dear Michaud, what is it; why did you make me that sign?" + +"You have an enemy within the walls, general, yet you tell him plans +which you ought not to confide even to the secret police." + +"I share your suspicions, my dear friend," replied Montcornet, "but I +don't intend to commit the same fault twice over. I shall not part with +another steward till I'm sure of a better. I am waiting to get rid of +Sibilet, till you understand the business of steward well enough to +take his place, and till Vatel is fit to succeed you. And yet, I have +no ground of complaint against Sibilet. He is honest and punctual in +all his dealings; he hasn't kept back a hundred francs in all these five +years. He has a perfectly detestable nature, and that's all one can say +against him. If it were otherwise, what would be his plan in acting as +he does?" + +"General," said Michaud, gravely, "I will find out, for undoubtedly +he has one; and if you would only allow it, a good bribe to that old +scoundrel Fourchon will enable me to get at the truth; though after what +he said just now I suspect the old fellow of having more secrets than +one in his pouch. That swindling old cordwainer told me himself they +want to drive you from Les Aigues. And let me tell you, for you ought to +know it, that from Conches to Ville-aux-Fayes there is not a peasant, a +petty tradesman, a farmer, a tavern-keeper who isn't laying by his money +to buy a bit of the estate. Fourchon confided to me that Tonsard has +already put in his claim. The idea that you can be forced to sell Les +Aigues has gone from end to end of the valley like an infection in the +air. It may be that the steward's present house, with some adjoining +land, will be the price paid for Sibilet's spying. Nothing is ever said +among us that is not immediately known at Ville-aux-Fayes. Sibilet is +a relative of your enemy Gaubertin. What you have just said about the +attorney-general and the others will probably be reported before you +have reached the Prefecture. You don't know what the inhabitants of this +district are." + +"Don't I know them? I know they are the scum of the earth! Do you +suppose I am going to yield to such blackguards?" cried the general. +"Good heavens, I'd rather burn Les Aigues myself!" + +"No need to burn it; let us adopt a line of conduct which will baffle +the schemes of these Lilliputians. Judging by threats, general, they +are resolved on war to the knife against you; and therefore since you +mention incendiarism, let me beg of you to insure all your buildings, +and all your farmhouses." + +"Michaud, do you know whom they mean by 'Shopman'? Yesterday, as I was +riding along by the Thune, I heard some little rascals cry out, 'The +Shopman! here's the Shopman!' and then they ran away." + +"Ask Sibilet; the answer is in his line, he likes to make you +angry," said Michaud, with a pained look. "But--if you will have an +answer--well, that's a nickname these brigands have given you, general." + +"What does it mean?" + +"It means, general--well, it refers to your father." + +"Ha! the curs!" cried the count, turning livid. "Yes, Michaud, my father +was a shopkeeper, an upholsterer; the countess doesn't know it. Oh! +that I should ever--well! after all, I have waltzed with queens and +empresses. I'll tell her this very night," he cried, after a pause. + +"They also call you a coward," continued Michaud. + +"Ha!" + +"They ask how you managed to save yourself at Essling when nearly all +your comrades perished." + +The accusation brought a smile to the general's lips. "Michaud, I shall +go at once to the Prefecture!" he cried, with a sort of fury, "if it +is only to get the policies of insurance you ask for. Let Madame la +comtesse know that I have gone. Ha, ha! they want war, do they? Well, +they shall have it; I'll take my pleasure in thwarting them,--every one +of them, those bourgeois of Soulanges, and their peasantry! We are in +the enemy's country, therefore prudence! Tell the foresters to keep +within the limits of the law. Poor Vatel, take care of him. The countess +is inclined to be timid; she must know nothing of all this; otherwise I +could never get her to come back here." + +Neither the general nor Michaud understood their real peril. Michaud had +been too short a time in this Burgundian valley to realize the enemy's +power, though he saw its action. The general, for his part, believed in +the supremacy of the law. + +The law, such as the legislature of these days manufactures it, has not +the virtue we attribute to it. It strikes unequally; it is so modified +in many of its modes of application that it virtually refutes its own +principles. This fact may be noted more or less distinctly throughout +all ages. Is there any historian ignorant enough to assert that the +decrees of the most vigilant of powers were ever enforced throughout +France?--for instance, that the requisitions of the Convention for +men, commodities, and money were obeyed in Provence, in the depths of +Normandy, on the borders of Brittany, as they were at the great centres +of social life? What philosopher dares deny that a head falls to-day in +such or such department, while in a neighboring department another head +stays on its shoulders though guilty of a crime identically the same, +and often more horrible? We ask for equality in life, and inequality +reigns in law and in the death penalty! + +When the population of a town falls below a certain figure the +administrative system is no longer the same. There are perhaps a hundred +cities in France where the laws are vigorously enforced, and there the +intelligence of the citizens rises to the conception of the problem of +public welfare and future security which the law seeks to solve; but +throughout the rest of France nothing is comprehended beyond immediate +gratification; people rebel against all that lessens it. Therefore in +nearly one half of France we find a power of inertia which defeats all +legal action, both municipal and governmental. This resistance, be it +understood, does not affect the essential things of public polity. +The collection of taxes, recruiting, punishment of great crimes, as a +general thing do systematically go on; but outside of such recognized +necessities, all legislative decrees which affect customs, morals, +private interests, and certain abuses, are a dead letter, owing to the +sullen opposition of the people. At the very moment when this book +is going to press, this dumb resistance, which opposed Louis XIV. in +Brittany, may still be seen and felt. See the unfortunate results of +the game-laws, to which we are now sacrificing yearly the lives of some +twenty or thirty men for the sake of preserving a few animals. + +In France the law is, to at least twenty million of inhabitants, nothing +more than a bit of white paper posted on the doors of the church and the +town-hall. That gives rise to the term "papers," which Mouche used to +express legality. Many mayors of cantons (not to speak of the district +mayors) put up their bundles of seeds and herbs with the printed +statutes. As for the district mayors, the number of those who do not +know how to read and write is really alarming, and the manner in which +the civil records are kept is even more so. The danger of this state of +things, well-known to the governing powers, is doubtless diminishing; +but what centralization (against which every one declaims, as it is +the fashion in France to declaim against all things good and useful and +strong),--what centralization cannot touch, the Power against which it +will forever fling itself in vain, is that which the general was now +about to attack, and which we shall take leave to call the Mediocracy. + +A great outcry was made against the tyranny of the nobles; in these days +the cry is against that of capitalists, against abuses of power, which +may be merely the inevitable galling of the social yoke, called Compact +by Rousseau, Constitution by some, Charter by others; Czar here, +King there, Parliament in Great Britain; while in France the general +levelling begun in 1789 and continued in 1830 has paved the way for the +juggling dominion of the middle classes, and delivered the nation +into their hands without escape. The portrayal of one fact alone, +unfortunately only too common in these days, namely, the subjection of +a canton, a little town, a sub-prefecture, to the will of a family +clique,--in short, the power acquired by Gaubertin,--will show this +social danger better than all dogmatic statements put together. Many +oppressed communities will recognize the truth of this picture; many +persons secretly and silently crushed by this tyranny will find in these +words an obituary, as it were, which may half console them for their +hidden woes. + +At the very moment when the general imagined himself to be renewing a +warfare in which there had really been no truce, his former steward had +just completed the last meshes of the net-work in which he now held the +whole arrondissement of Ville-aux-Fayes. To avoid too many explanations +it is necessary to state, once for all, succinctly, the genealogical +ramifications by means of which Gaubertin wound himself about the +country, as a boa-constrictor winds around a tree,--with such art that a +passing traveller thinks he beholds some natural effect of the tropical +vegetation. + +In 1793 there were three brothers of the name of Mouchon in the valley +of the Avonne. After 1793 they changed the name of the valley to that of +the Valley des Aigues, out of hatred to the old nobility. + +The eldest brother, steward of the property of the Ronquerolles family, +was elected deputy of the department to the Convention. Like his +friend, Gaubertin's father, the prosecutor of those days, who saved +the Soulanges family, he saved the property and the lives of the +Ronquerolles. He had two daughters; one married to Gendrin, the lawyer, +the other to Gaubertin. He died in 1804. + +The second, through the influence of his elder brother, was made +postmaster at Conches. His only child was a daughter, married to a rich +farmer named Guerbet. He died in 1817. + +The last of the Mouchons, who was a priest, and the curate of +Ville-aux-Fayes before the Revolution, was again a priest after the +re-establishment of Catholic worship, and again the curate of the same +little town. He was not willing to take the oath, and was hidden for a +long time in the hermitage of Les Aigues, under the protection of the +Gaubertins, father and son. Now about sixty-seven years of age, he was +treated with universal respect and affection, owing to the harmony of +his nature with that of the inhabitants. Parsimonious to the verge of +avarice, he was thought to be rich, and the credit of being so increased +the respect that was shown to him. Monseigneur the bishop paid the +greatest attention to the Abbe Mouchon, who was always spoken of as the +venerable curate of Ville-aux-Fayes; and the fact that he had several +times refused to go and live in a splendid parsonage attached to the +Prefecture, where Monseigneur wished to settle him, made him dearer +still to his people. + +Gaubertin, now mayor of Ville-aux-Fayes, received steady support from +his brother-in-law Gendrin, who was judge of the municipal court. +Gaubertin the younger, the solicitor who had the most practice before +this court and much repute in the arrondissement, was already thinking +of selling his practice after five years' exercise of it. He wanted +to succeed his Uncle Gendrin as counsellor whenever the latter should +retire from the profession. Gendrin's only son was commissioner of +mortgages. + +Soudry's son, who for the last two years had been prosecuting-attorney +at the prefecture, was Gaubertin's henchman. The clever Madame Soudry +had secured the future of her husband's son by marrying him to Rigou's +only daughter. The united fortunes of the Soudrys and the ex-monk, which +would come eventually to the attorney, made that young man one of the +most important personages of the department. + +The sub-prefect of Ville-aux-Fayes, Monsieur des Lupeaulx, nephew of the +general-secretary of one of the most important ministries in Paris, was +the prospective husband of Mademoiselle Elise Gaubertin, the mayor's +youngest daughter, whose dowry, like that of her elder sister, was +two hundred thousand francs, not to speak of "expectations." This +functionary showed much sense, though not aware of it, in falling in +love with Mademoiselle Elise when he first arrived at Ville-aux-Fayes, +in 1819. If it had not been for his social position, which made him +"eligible," he would long ago have been forced to ask for his exchange. +But Gaubertin in marrying him to his daughter thought much more of the +uncle, the general-secretary, than of the nephew; and in return, the +uncle, for the sake of his nephew, gave all his influence to Gaubertin. + +Thus the Church, the magistracy both removable and irremovable, the +municipality, and the prefecture, the four feet of power, walked as the +mayor pleased. Let us now see how that functionary strengthened himself +in the spheres above and below that in which he worked. + +The department to which Ville-aux-Fayes belongs is one the number of +whose population gives it the right to elect six deputies. Ever since +the creation of the Left Centre of the Chamber, the arrondissement of +Ville-aux-Fayes had sent a deputy named Leclercq, formerly banking agent +of the wine department of the custom-house, a son-in-law of Gaubertin, +and now a governor of the Bank of France. The number of electors which +this rich valley sent to the electoral college was sufficient to insure, +if only through private dealing, the constant appointment of Monsieur +de Ronquerolles, the patron of the Mouchon family. The voters of +Ville-aux-Fayes lent their support to the prefect, on condition that the +Marquis de Ronquerolles was maintained in the college. Thus Gaubertin, +who was the first to broach the idea of this arrangement, was favorably +received at the Prefecture, which he often, in return, saved from petty +annoyances. The prefect always selected three firm ministerialists, +and two deputies of the Left Centre. The latter, one of them being the +Marquis de Ronquerolles, brother-in-law of the Comte de Serisy, and the +other a governor of the Bank of France, gave little or no alarm to the +cabinet, and the elections in this department were rated excellent at +the ministry of the interior. + +The Comte de Soulanges, peer of France, selected to be the next marshal, +and faithful to the Bourbons, knew that his forests and other property +were all well-managed by the notary Lupin, and well-watched by Soudry. +He was a patron of Gendrin's, having obtained his appointment as judge +partly by the help of Monsieur de Ronquerolles. + +Messieurs Leclercq and de Ronquerolles sat in the Left Centre, but +nearer to the left than to the centre,--a political position which +offers great advantages to those who regard their political conscience +as a garment. + +The brother of Monsieur Leclercq had obtained the situation of collector +at Ville-aux-Fayes, and Leclercq himself, Gaubertin's son-in-law, had +lately bought a fine estate beyond the valley of the Avonne, which +brought him in a rental of thirty thousand francs, with park and chateau +and a controlling influence in its own canton. + +Thus, in the upper regions of the State, in both Chambers, and in the +chief ministerial department, Gaubertin could rely on an influence that +was powerful and also active, and which he was careful not to weary with +unimportant requests. + +The counsellor Gendrin, appointed judge by the Chamber, was the leading +spirit of the Supreme Court; for the chief justice, one of the three +ministerial deputies, left the management of it to Gendrin during half +the year. The counsel for the Prefecture, a cousin of Sarcus, called +"Sarcus the rich," was the right-hand man of the prefect, himself a +deputy. Even without the family reasons which allied Gaubertin and young +des Lupeaulx, a brother of Madame Sarcus would still have been desirable +as sub-prefect to the arrondissement of Ville-aux-Fayes. Madame Sarcus, +the counsellor's wife, was a Vallat of Soulanges, a family connected +with the Gaubertins, and she was said to have "distinguished" the notary +Lupin in her youth. Though she was now forty-five years old, with a son +in the school of engineers, Lupin never went to the Prefecture without +paying his respects and dining with her. + +The nephew of Guerbet, the postmaster, whose father was, as we have +seen, collector of Soulanges, held the important situation of examining +judge in the municipal court of Ville-aux-Fayes. The third judge, son of +Corbinet, the notary, belonged body and soul to the all-powerful mayor; +and, finally, young Vigor, son of the lieutenant of the gendarmerie, was +the substitute judge. + +Sibilet's father, sheriff of the court, had married his sister to +Monsieur Vigor the lieutenant, and that individual, father of six +children, was cousin of the father of Gaubertin through his wife, a +Gaubertin-Vallat. Eighteen months previously the united efforts of the +two deputies, Monsieur de Soulanges and Gaubertin, had created the place +of commissary of police for the sheriff's second son. + +Sibilet's eldest daughter married Monsieur Herve, a school-master, whose +school was transformed into a college as a result of this marriage, +so that for the past year Soulanges had rejoiced in the presence of a +professor. + +The sheriff's youngest son was employed on the government domains, with +the promise of succeeding the clerk of registrations so soon as that +officer had completed the term of service which enabled him to retire on +a pension. + +The youngest Sibilet girl, now sixteen years old, was betrothed +to Corbinet, brother of the notary. And an old maid, Mademoiselle +Gaubertin-Vallat, sister of Madame Sibilet, the sheriff's wife, held the +office for the sale of stamped paper. + +Thus, wherever we turn in Ville-aux-Fayes we meet some member of the +invisible coalition, whose avowed chief, recognized as such by every +one, great and small, was the mayor of the town, the general agent for +the entire timber business, Gaubertin! + +If we turn to the other end of the valley of the Avonne we shall see +that Gaubertin ruled at Soulanges through the Soudrys, through Lupin the +assistant mayor and steward of the Soulanges estate, who was necessarily +in constant communication with the Comte de Soulanges, through Sarcus, +justice of the peace, through Guerbet, the collector, through Gourdon, +the doctor, who had married a Gendrin-Vatebled. He governed Blangy +through Rigou, Conches through the post-master, the despotic ruler of +his own district. + +Gaubertin's influence was so great and powerful that even the +investments and the savings of Rigou, Soudry, Gendrin, Guerbet, Lupin, +even Sarcus the rich himself, were managed by his advice. The town of +Ville-aux-Fayes believed implicitly in its mayor. Gaubertin's ability +was not less extolled than his honesty and his kindness; he was the +servant of his relatives and constituents (always with an eye to a +return of benefits), and the whole municipality adored him. The town +never ceased to blame Monsieur Mariotte, of Auxerre, for having opposed +and thwarted that worthy Monsieur Gaubertin. + +Not aware of their strength, no occasion for displaying it having +arisen, the bourgeoisie of Ville-aux-Fayes contented themselves with +boasting that no strangers intermeddled in their affairs and they +believed themselves excellent citizens and faithful public servants. +Nothing, however, escaped their despotic rule, which in itself was not +perceived, the result being considered a triumph of the locality. + +The only stranger in this family community was the government engineer +in the highway department; and his dismissal in favor of the son of +Sarcus the rich was now being pressed, with a fair chance that this one +weak thread in the net would soon be strengthened. And yet this powerful +league, which monopolized all duties both public and private, sucked the +resources of the region, and fastened on power like limpets to a +ship, escaped all notice so completely that General Montcornet had +no suspicion of it. The prefect boasted of the prosperity of +Ville-aux-Fayes and its arrondissement; even the minister of the +interior was heard to remark: "There's a model sub-prefecture, which +runs on wheels; we should be lucky indeed if all were like it." Family +designs were so involved with local interests that here, as in many +other little towns and even prefectures, a functionary who did not +belong to the place would have been forced to resign within a year. + +When this despotic middle-class cousinry seizes a victim, he is so +carefully gagged and bound that complaint is impossible; he is +smeared with slime and wax like a snail in a beehive. This invisible, +imperceptible tyranny is upheld by powerful reasons,--such as the wish +to be surrounded by their own family, to keep property in their own +hands, the mutual help they ought to lend each other, the guarantees +given to the administration by the fact that their agent is under the +eyes of his fellow-citizens and neighbors. What does all this lead +to? To the fact that local interests supersede all questions of public +interest; the centralized will of Paris is frequently overthrown in the +provinces, the truth of things is disguised, and country communities +snap their fingers at government. In short, after the main public +necessities have been attended to, it will be seen that the laws, +instead of acting upon the masses, receive their impulse from them; the +populations adapt the law to themselves and not themselves to the law. + +Whoever has travelled in the south or west of France, or in Alsace, in +any other way than from inn to inn to see buildings and landscapes, will +surely admit the truth of these remarks. The results of middle-class +nepotism may be, at present, merely isolated evils; but the tendency of +existing laws is to increase them. This low-level despotism can and will +cause great disasters, and the events of the drama about to be played in +the valley of Les Aigues will prove it. + +The monarchical and imperial systems, more rashly overthrown than people +realize, remedied these abuses by means of certain consecrated lives, +by classifications and categories and by those particular counterpoises +since so absurdly defined as "privileges." There are no privileges now, +when every human being is free to climb the greased pole of power. But +surely it would be safer to allow open and avowed privileges than those +which are underhand, based on trickery, subversive of what should be +public spirit, and continuing the work of despotism to a lower and baser +level than heretofore. May we not have overthrown noble tyrants devoted +to their country's good, to create the tyranny of selfish interests? +Shall power lurk in secret places, instead of radiating from its natural +source? This is worth thinking about. The spirit of local sectionalism, +such as we have now depicted, will soon be seen to invade the Chamber. + +Montcornet's friend, the late prefect, Comte de la Roche-Hugon, had lost +his position just before the last arrival of the general at Les Aigues. +This dismissal drove him into the ranks of the Liberal opposition, +where he became one of the chorus of the Left, a position he soon after +abandoned for an embassy. His successor, luckily for Montcornet, was +a son-in-law of the Marquis de Troisville, uncle of the countess, the +Comte de Casteran. He welcomed Montcornet as a relation and begged +him to continue his intimacy at the Prefecture. After listening to +the general's complaints the Comte de Casteran invited the bishop, the +attorney-general, the colonel of the gendarmerie, counsellor Sarcus, +and the general commanding the division to meet him the next day at +breakfast. + +The attorney-general, Baron Bourlac (so famous in the Chanterie and +Rifael suits), was one of those men well-known to all governments, who +attach themselves to power, no matter in whose hands it is, and who make +themselves invaluable by such devotion. Having owed his elevation in the +first place to his fanaticism for the Emperor, he now owed the +retention of his official rank to his inflexible character and the +conscientiousness with which he fulfilled his duties. He who once +implacably prosecuted the remnant of the Chouans now prosecuted the +Bonapartists as implacably. But years and turmoils had somewhat subdued +his energy and he had now become, like other old devils incarnate, +perfectly charming in manner and ways. + +The general explained his position and the fears of his bailiff, and +spoke of the necessity of making an example and enforcing the rights of +property. + +The high functionaries listened gravely, making, however, no reply +beyond mere platitudes, such as, "Undoubtedly, the laws must be upheld"; +"Your cause is that of all land-owners"; "We will consider it; but, +situated as we are, prudence is very necessary"; "A monarchy could +certainly do more for the people than the people would do for itself, +even if it were, as in 1793, the sovereign people"; "The masses suffer, +and we are bound to do as much for them as for ourselves." + +The relentless attorney-general expressed such kindly and benevolent +views respecting the condition of the lower classes that our future +Utopians, had they heard him, might have thought that the higher grade +of government officials were already aware of the difficulties of that +problem which modern society will be forced to solve. + +It may be well to say here that at this period of the Restoration, +various bloody encounters had taken place in remote parts of the +kingdom, caused by this very question of the pillage of woods, and +the marauding rights which the peasants were everywhere arrogating to +themselves. Neither the government nor the court liked these outbreaks, +nor the shedding of blood which resulted from repression. Though they +felt the necessity of rigorous measures, they nevertheless treated +as blunderers the officials who were compelled to employ them, and +dismissed them on the first pretence. The prefects were therefore +anxious to shuffle out of such difficulties whenever possible. + +At the very beginning of the conversation Sarcus (the rich) had made a +sign to the prefect and the attorney-general which Montcornet did not +see, but which set the tone of the discussion. The attorney-general was +well aware of the state of mind of the inhabitants of the valley des +Aigues through his subordinate, Soudry the young attorney. + +"I foresee a terrible struggle," the latter had said to him. "They mean +to kill the gendarmes; my spies tell me so. It will be very hard to +convict them for it. The instant the jury feel they are incurring the +hatred of the friends of the twenty or thirty prisoners, they will not +sustain us,--we could not get them to convict for death, nor even for +the galleys. Possibly by prosecuting in person you might get a few +years' imprisonment for the actual murderers. Better shut our eyes +than open them, if by opening them we bring on a collision which costs +bloodshed and several thousand francs to the State,--not to speak of the +cost of keeping the guilty in prison. It is too high a price to pay for +a victory which will only reveal our judicial weakness to the eyes of +all." + +Montcornet, who was wholly without suspicion of the strength and +influence of the Mediocracy in his happy valley, did not even mention +Gaubertin, whose hand kept these embers of opposition always alive, +though smouldering. After breakfast the attorney-general took Montcornet +by the arm and led him to the Prefect's study. When the general left +that room after their conference, he wrote to his wife that he was +starting for Paris and should be absent a week. We shall see, after +the execution of certain measures suggested by Baron Bourlac, the +attorney-general, whether the secret advice he gave to Montcornet was +wise, and whether in conforming to it the count and Les Aigues were +enabled to escape the "Evil grudge." + +Some minds, eager for mere amusement, will complain that these various +explanations are far too long; but we once more call attention to the +fact that the historian of the manners, customs, and morals of his time +must obey a law far more stringent than that imposed on the historian of +mere facts. He must show the probability of everything, even the truth; +whereas, in the domain of history, properly so-called, the impossible +must be accepted for the sole reason that it did happen. The +vicissitudes of social or private life are brought about by a crowd of +little causes derived from a thousand conditions. The man of science +is forced to clear away the avalanche under which whole villages lie +buried, to show you the pebbles brought down from the summit which alone +can determine the formation of the mountain. If the historian of human +life were simply telling you of a suicide, five hundred of which occur +yearly in Paris, the melodrama is so commonplace that brief reasons and +explanations are all that need be given; but how shall he make you see +that the self-destruction of an estate could happen in these days when +property is reckoned of more value than life? "De re vestra agitur," +said a maker of fables; this tale concerns the affairs and interests of +all those, no matter who they be, who possess anything. + +Remember that this coalition of a whole canton and of a little town +against a general, who, in spite of his rash courage, had escaped the +dangers of actual war, is going on in other districts against other men +who seek only to do what is right by those districts. It is a coalition +which to-day threatens every man, the man of genius, the statesman, the +modern agriculturalist,--in short, all innovators. + +This last explanation not only gives a true presentation of the +personages of this drama, and a serious meaning even to its petty +details, but it also throws a vivid light upon the scene where so many +social interests are now marshalling. + + + + +CHAPTER X. THE SADNESS OF A HAPPY WOMAN + + +At the moment when the general was getting into his caleche to go to the +Prefecture, the countess and the two gentlemen reached the gate of the +Avonne, where, for the last eighteen months, Michaud and his wife Olympe +had made their home. + +Whose remembered the pavilion in the state in which we lately described +it would have supposed it had been rebuilt. The bricks fallen or broken +by time, and the cement lacking to their edges, were replaced; the slate +roof had been cleaned, and the effect of the white balustrade against +its bluish background restored the gay character of the architecture. +The approaches to the building, formerly choked up and sandy, were now +cared for by the man whose duty it was to keep the park roadways +in order. The poultry-yard, stables, and cow-shed, relegated to the +buildings near the pheasantry and hidden by clumps of trees, instead +of afflicting the eye with their foul details, now blended those soft +murmurs and cooings and the sound of flapping wings, which are among +the most delightful accompaniments of Nature's eternal harmony, with the +peculiar rustling sounds of the forest. The whole scene possessed the +double charm of a natural, untouched forest and the elegance of an +English park. The surroundings of the pavilion, in keeping with its +own exterior, presented a certain noble, dignified, and cordial effect; +while the hand of a young and happy woman gave to its interior a +very different look from what it wore under the coarse neglect of +Courtecuisse. + +Just now the rich season of the year was putting forth its natural +splendors. The perfume of the flowerbeds blended with the wild odor of +the woods; and the meadows near by, where the grass had been lately cut, +sent up the fragrance of new-mown hay. + +When the countess and her guests reached the end of one of the winding +paths which led to the pavilion, they saw Madame Michaud, sitting in the +open air before the door, employed in making a baby's garment. The young +woman thus placed, thus employed, added the human charm that was needed +to complete the scene,--a charm so touching in its actuality that +painters have committed the error of endeavoring to convey it in their +pictures. Such artists forget that the SOUL of a landscape, if they +represent it truly, is so grand that the human element is crushed by it; +whereas such a scene added to Nature limits her to the proportions +of the personality, like a frame to which the mind of the spectator +confines it. When Poussin, the Raffaelle of France, made a landscape +accessory to his Shepherds of Arcadia he perceived plainly enough that +man becomes diminutive and abject when Nature is made the principal +feature on a canvas. In that picture August is in its glory, the harvest +is ready, all simple and strong human interests are represented. There +we find realized in nature the dream of many men whose uncertain life of +mingled good and evil harshly mixed makes them long for peace and rest. + +Let us now relate, in few words, the romance of this home. Justin +Michaud did not reply very cordially to the advances made to him by the +illustrious colonel of cuirassiers when first offered the situation of +bailiff at Les Aigues. He was then thinking of re-entering the service. +But while the negotiations, which naturally took him to the Hotel +Montcornet, were going on, he met the countess's head waiting-maid. This +young girl, who was entrusted to Madame de Montcornet by her parents, +worthy farmers in the neighborhood of Alencon, had hopes of a little +fortune, some twenty or thirty thousand francs, when the heirs were all +of age. Like other farmers who marry young, and whose own parents are +still living, the father and mother of the girl, being pinched +for immediate means, placed her with the young countess. Madame de +Montcornet had her taught to sew and to make dresses, arranged that she +should take her meals alone, and was rewarded for the care she bestowed +on Olympe Charel by one of those unconditional attachments which are so +precious to Parisians. + +Olympe Charel, a pretty Norman girl, rather stout, with fair hair of +a golden tint, an animated face lighted by intelligent eyes, and +distinguished by a finely curved thoroughbred nose, with a maidenly +air in spite of a certain swaying Spanish manner of carrying herself, +possessed all the points that a young girl born just above the level +of the masses is likely to acquire from whatever close companionship a +mistress is willing to allow her. Always suitably dressed, with modest +bearing and manner, and able to express herself well, Michaud was soon +in love with her,--all the more when he found that his sweetheart's +dowry would one day be considerable. The obstacles came from the +countess, who could not bear to part with so invaluable a maid; but when +Montcornet explained to her the affairs at Les Aigues, she gave way, and +the marriage was no longer delayed, except to obtain the consent of the +parents, which, of course, was quickly given. + +Michaud, like his general, looked upon his wife as a superior being, to +whom he owed military obedience without a single reservation. He found +in the peace of his home and his busy life out-of-doors the elements +of a happiness soldiers long for when they give up their +profession,--enough work to keep his body healthy, enough fatigue to +let him know the charms of rest. In spite of his well-known intrepidity, +Michaud had never been seriously wounded, and he had none of those +physical pains which often sour the temper of veterans. Like all really +strong men, his temper was even; his wife, therefore, loved him utterly. +From the time they took up their abode in the pavilion, this happy home +was the scene of a long honey-moon in harmony with Nature and with the +art whose creations surrounded them,--a circumstance rare indeed! The +things about us are seldom in keeping with the condition of our souls! + +The picture was so pretty that the countess stopped short and pointed +it out to Blondet and the abbe; for they could see Madame Michaud from +where they stood, without her seeing them. + +"I always come this way when I walk in the park," said the countess, +softly. "I delight in looking at the pavilion and its two turtle-doves, +as much as I delight in a fine view." + +She leaned significantly on Blondet's arm, as if to make him share +sentiments too delicate for words but which all women feel. + +"I wish I were a gate-keeper at Les Aigues," said Blondet, smiling. +"Why! what troubles you?" he added, noticing an expression of sadness on +the countess's face. + +"Nothing," she replied. + +Women are always hiding some important thought when they say, +hypocritically, "It is nothing." + +"A woman may be the victim of ideas which would seem very flimsy to +you," she added, "but which, to us, are terrible. As for me, I envy +Olympe's lot." + +"God hears you," said the abbe, smiling as though to soften the +sternness of his remark. + +Madame de Montcornet grew seriously uneasy when she noticed an +expression of fear and anxiety in Olympe's face and attitude. By the +way a woman draws out her needle or sets her stitches another woman +understands her thoughts. In fact, though wearing a rose-colored dress, +with her hair carefully braided about her head, the bailiff's wife was +thinking of matters that were out of keeping with her pretty dress, +the glorious day, and the work her hands were engaged on. Her beautiful +brow, and the glance she turned sometimes on the ground at her feet, +sometimes on the foliage around, evidently seeing nothing, betrayed some +deep anxiety,--all the more unconsciously because she supposed herself +alone. + +"Just as I was envying her! What can have saddened her?" whispered the +countess to the abbe. + +"Madame," he replied in the same tone, "tell me why man is often seized +with vague and unaccountable presentiments of evil in the very midst of +some perfect happiness?" + +"Abbe!" said Blondet, smiling, "you talk like a bishop. Napoleon said, +'Nothing is stolen, all is bought!'" + +"Such a maxim, uttered by those imperial lips, takes the proportions of +society itself," replied the priest. + +"Well, Olympe, my dear girl, what is the matter?" said the countess +going up to her former maid. "You seem sad and thoughtful; is it a +lover's quarrel?" + +Madame Michaud's face, as she rose, changed completely. + +"My dear," said Emile Blondet, in a fatherly tone, "I should like to +know what clouds that brow of yours, in this pavilion where you are +almost as well lodged as the Comte d'Artois at the Tuileries. It is +like a nest of nightingales in a grove! And what a husband we have!--the +bravest fellow of the young garde, and a handsome one, who loves us to +distraction! If I had known the advantages Montcornet has given you here +I should have left my diatribing business and made myself a bailiff." + +"It is not the place for a man of your talent, monsieur," replied +Olympe, smiling at Blondet as an old acquaintance. + +"But what troubles you, dear?" said the countess. + +"Madame, I'm afraid--" + +"Afraid! of what?" said the countess, eagerly; for the word reminded her +of Mouche and Fourchon. + +"Afraid of the wolves, is that it?" said Emile, making Madame Michaud a +sign, which she did not understand. + +"No, monsieur,--afraid of the peasants. I was born in Le Perche, where +of course there are some bad people, but I had no idea how wicked people +could be until I came here. I try not to meddle in Michaud's affairs, +but I do know that he distrusts the peasants so much that he goes armed, +even in broad daylight, when he enters the forest. He warns his men to +be always on the alert. Every now and then things happen about here +that bode no good. The other day I was walking along the wall, near +the source of that little sandy rivulet which comes from the forest +and enters the park through a culvert about five hundred feet from +here,--you know it, madame? it is called Silver Spring, because of the +star-flowers Bouret is said to have sown there. Well, I overheard the +talk of two women who were washing their linen just where the path to +Conches crosses the brook; they did not know I was there. Our house can +be seen from that point, and one old woman pointed it out to the other, +saying: 'See what a lot of money they have spent on the man who turned +out Courtecuisse.' 'They ought to pay a man well when they set him to +harass poor people as that man does,' answered the other. 'Well, it +won't be for long,' said the first one; 'the thing is going to end soon. +We have a right to our wood. The late Madame allowed us to take it. +That's thirty years ago, so the right is ours.' 'We'll see what we shall +see next winter,' replied the second. 'My man has sworn the great oath +that all the gendarmerie in the world sha'n't keep us from getting our +wood; he says he means to get it himself, and if the worst happens so +much the worse for them!' 'Good God!' cried the other; 'we can't die +of cold, and we must bake bread to eat! They want for nothing, _those +others_! the wife of that scoundrel of a Michaud will be taken care of, +I warrant you!' And then, Madame, they said such horrible things of me +and of you and of Monsieur le comte; and they finally declared that the +farms would all be burned, and then the chateau." + +"Bah!" said Emile, "idle talk! They have been robbing the general, +and they will not be allowed to rob him any longer. These people are +furious, that's the whole of it. You must remember that the law and the +government are always strongest everywhere, even in Burgundy. In case +of an outbreak the general could bring a regiment of cavalry here, if +necessary." + +The abbe made a sign to Madame Michaud from behind the countess, telling +her to say no more about her fears, which were doubtless the effect +of that second sight which true passion bestows. The soul, dwelling +exclusively on one only being, grasps in the end the moral elements that +surround it, and sees in them the makings of the future. The woman who +loves feels the same presentiments that later illuminate her motherhood. +Hence a certain melancholy, a certain inexplicable sadness which +surprises men, who are one and all distracted from any such +concentration of their souls by the cares of life and the continual +necessity for action. All true love becomes to a woman an active +contemplation, which is more or less lucid, more or less profound, +according to her nature. + +"Come, my dear, show your home to Monsieur Emile," said the countess, +whose mind was so pre-occupied that she forgot La Pechina, who was the +ostensible object of her visit. + +The interior of the restored pavilion was in keeping with its exterior. +On the ground-floor the old divisions had been replaced, and the +architect, sent from Paris with his own workmen (a cause of bitter +complaint in the neighborhood against the master of Les Aigues), had +made four rooms out of the space. First, an ante-chamber, at the farther +end of which was a winding wooden staircase, behind which came the +kitchen; on either side of the antechamber was a dining-room and a +parlor panelled in oak now nearly black, with armorial bearings in the +divisions of the ceilings. The architect chosen by Madame de Montcornet +for the restoration of Les Aigues had taken care to put the furniture of +this room in keeping with its original decoration. + +At the time of which we write fashion had not yet given an exaggerated +value to the relics of past ages. The carved settee, the high-backed +chairs covered with tapestry, the consoles, the clocks, the tall +embroidery frames, the tables, the lustres, hidden away in the +second-hand shops of Auxerre and Ville-aux-Fayes were fifty per-cent +cheaper than the modern, ready-made furniture of the faubourg Saint +Antoine. The architect had therefore bought two or three cartloads of +well-chosen old things, which, added to a few others discarded at the +chateau, made the little salon of the gate of the Avonne an artistic +creation. As to the dining-room, he painted it in browns and hung it +with what was called a Scotch paper, and Madame Michaud added white +cambric curtains with green borders at the windows, mahogany chairs +covered with green cloth, two large buffets and a table, also in +mahogany. This room, ornamented with engravings of military scenes, was +heated by a porcelain stove, on each side of which were sporting-guns +suspended on the walls. These adornments, which cost but little, were +talked of throughout the whole valley as the last extreme of oriental +luxury. Singular to say, they, more than anything else, excited the +envy of Gaubertin, and whenever he thought of his fixed determination +to bring Les Aigues to the hammer and cut it in pieces, he reserved for +himself, "in petto," this beautiful pavilion. + +On the next floor three chambers sufficed for the household. At the +windows were muslin curtains which reminded a Parisian of the particular +taste and fancy of bourgeois requirements. Left to herself in the +decoration of these rooms, Madame Michaud had chosen satin papers; on +the mantel-shelf of her bedroom--which was furnished in that vulgar +style of mahogany and Utrecht velvet which is seen everywhere, with +its high-backed bed and canopy to which embroidered muslin curtains are +fastened--stood an alabaster clock between two candelabra covered with +gauze and flanked by two vases filled with artificial flowers protected +by glass shades, a conjugal gift of the former cavalry sergeant. Above, +under the roof, the bedrooms of the cook, the man-of-all-work, and La +Pechina had benefited by the recent restoration. + +"Olympe, my dear, you did not tell me all," said the countess, entering +Madame Michaud's bedroom, and leaving Emile and the abbe on the +stairway, whence they descended when they heard her shut the door. + +Madame Michaud, to whom the abbe had contrived to whisper a word, was +now anxious to say no more about her fears, which were really greater +than she had intimated, and she therefore began to talk of a matter +which reminded the countess of the object of her visit. + +"I love Michaud, madame, as you know. Well, how would you like to have, +in your own house, a rival always beside you?" + +"A rival?" + +"Yes, madame; that swarthy girl you gave me to take care of loves +Michaud without knowing it, poor thing! The child's conduct, long a +mystery to me, has been cleared up in my mind for some days." + +"Why, she is only thirteen years old!" + +"I know that, madame. But you will admit that a woman who is three +months pregnant and means to nurse her child herself may have some +fears; but as I did not want to speak of this before those gentlemen, +I talked a great deal of nonsense when you questioned me," said the +generous creature, adroitly. + +Madame Michaud was not really afraid of Genevieve Niseron, but for +the last three days she was in mortal terror of some disaster from the +peasantry. + +"How did you discover this?" said the countess. + +"From everything and from nothing," replied Olympe. "The poor little +thing moves with the slowness of a tortoise when she is obliged to +obey me, but she runs like a lizard when Justin asks for anything, she +trembles like a leaf at the sound of his voice; and her face is that of +a saint ascending to heaven when she looks at him. But she knows nothing +about love; she has no idea that she loves him." + +"Poor child!" said the countess with a smile and tone that were full of +naivete. + +"And so," continued Madame Michaud, answering with a smile the smile of +her late mistress, "Genevieve is gloomy when Justin is out of the house; +if I ask her what she is thinking of she replies that she is afraid +of Monsieur Rigou, or some such nonsense. She thinks people envy her, +though she is as black as the inside of a chimney. When Justin is +patrolling the woods at night the child is as anxious as I am. If I +open my window to listen for the trot of his horse, I see a light in her +room, which shows me that La Pechina (as they call here) is watching and +waiting too. She never goes to bed, any more than I do, till he comes +in." + +"Thirteen!" exclaimed the countess; "unfortunate child!" + +"Unfortunate? no. This passion will save her." + +"From what?" asked Madame de Montcornet. + +"From the fate which overtakes nearly all the girls of her age in these +parts. Since I have taught her cleanliness she is much less ugly than +she was; in fact, there is something odd and wild about her which +attracts men. She is so changed that you would hardly recognize her. The +son of that infamous innkeeper of the Grand-I-Vert, Nicolas, the worst +fellow in the whole district, wants her; he hunts her like game. Though +I can't believe that Monsieur Rigou, who changes his servant-girls every +year or two is persecuting such a little fright, it is quite certain +that Nicolas Tonsard is. Justin told me so. It would be a dreadful fate, +for the people of this valley actually live like beasts; but Justin and +our two servants and I watch her carefully. Therefore don't be uneasy, +madame; she never goes out alone except in broad daylight, and then only +as far as the gate of Conches. If by chance she fell into an ambush, her +feeling for Justin would give her strength and wit to escape; for all +women who have a preference in their hearts can resist a man they hate." + +"It was about her that I came," said the countess, "and I little thought +my visit could be so useful to you. That child, you know, can't remain +thirteen; and she will probably grow better-looking." + +"Oh, madame," replied Olympe, smiling, "I am quite sure of Justin. What +a man! what a heart!--If you only knew what a depth of gratitude he +feels for his general, to whom, he says, he owes his happiness. He is +only too devoted; he would risk his life for him here, as he would on +the field of battle, and he forgets sometimes that he will one day be +father of a family." + +"Ah! I once regretted losing you," said the countess, with a glance that +made Olympe blush; "but I regret it no longer, for I see you happy. What +a sublime and noble thing is married love!" she added, speaking out the +thought she had not dared express before the abbe. + +Virginie de Troisville dropped into a revery, and Madame Michaud kept +silence. + +"Well, at least the girl is honest, is she not?" said the countess, as +if waking from a dream. + +"As honest as I am myself, madame." + +"Discreet?" + +"As the grave." + +"Grateful?" + +"Ah! madame; she has moments of humility and gentleness towards me which +seem to show an angelic nature. She will kiss my hands and say the most +upsetting things. 'Can we die of love?' she asked me yesterday. 'Why do +you ask me that?' I said. 'I want to know if love is a disease.'" + +"Did she really say that?" + +"If I could remember her exact words I would tell you a great deal +more," replied Olympe; "she appears to know much more than I do." + +"Do you think, my dear, that she could take your place in my service. I +can't do without an Olympe," said the countess, smiling in a rather sad +way. + +"Not yet, madame,--she is too young; but in two years' time, yes. If it +becomes necessary that she should go away from here I will let you +know. She ought to be educated, and she knows nothing of the world. +Her grandfather, Pere Niseron, is a man who would let his throat be cut +sooner than tell a lie; he would die of hunger in a baker's shop; he has +the strength of his opinions, and the girl was brought up to all such +principles. La Pechina would consider herself your equal; for the old +man has made her, as he says, a republican,--just as Pere Fourchon has +made Mouche a bohemian. As for me, I laugh at such ideas, but you might +be displeased. She would revere you as her benefactress, but never +as her superior. It can't be otherwise; she is wild and free like the +swallows--her mother's blood counts for a good deal in what she is." + +"Who was her mother?" + +"Doesn't madame know the story?" said Olympe. "Well, the son of the old +sexton at Blangy, a splendid fellow, so the people about here tell me, +was drafted at the great conscription. In 1809 young Niseron was still +only an artilleryman, in a corps d'armee stationed in Illyria and +Dalmatia when it received sudden orders to advance through Hungary and +cut off the retreat of the Austrian army in case the Emperor won the +battle of Wagram. Michaud told me all about Dalmatia, for he was there. +Niseron, being so handsome a man, captivated a Montenegrin girl of +Zahara among the mountains, who was not averse to the French garrison. +This lost her the good-will of her compatriots, and life in her own +town became impossible after the departure of the French. Zena Kropoli, +called in derision the Frenchwoman, followed the artillery, and came to +France after the peace. Auguste Niseron asked permission to marry her; +but the poor woman died at Vincennes in January, 1810, after giving +birth to a daughter, our Genevieve. The papers necessary to make the +marriage legal arrived a few days later. Auguste Niseron then wrote to +his father to come and take the child, with a wetnurse he had got from +its own country; and it was lucky he did, for he was killed soon after +by the bursting of a shell at Montereau. Registered by the name of +Genevieve and baptized at Soulanges, the little Dalmatian was taken +under the protection of Mademoiselle Laguerre, who was touched by her +story. It seems as if it were the destiny of the child to be taken care +of by the owners of Les Aigues! Pere Niseron obtained its clothes, and +now and then some help in money from Mademoiselle." + +The countess and Olympe were just then standing before a window from +which they could see Michaud approaching the abbe and Blondet, who +were walking up and down the wide, semi-circular gravelled space which +repeated on the park side of the pavilion the exterior half-moon; they +were conversing earnestly. + +"Where is she?" said the countess; "you make me anxious to see her." + +"She is gone to carry milk to Mademoiselle Gaillard at the gate of +Conches; she will soon be back, for it is more than an hour since she +started." + +"Well, I'll go and meet her with those gentlemen," said Madame de +Montcornet, going downstairs. + +Just as the countess opened her parasol, Michaud came up and told her +that the general had left her a widow for probably two days. + +"Monsieur Michaud," said the countess, eagerly, "don't deceive me, there +is something serious going on. Your wife is frightened, and if there +are many persons like Pere Fourchon, this part of the country will be +uninhabitable--" + +"If it were so, madame," answered Michaud, laughing, "we should not be +in the land of the living, for nothing would be easier than to make +away with us. The peasant's grumble, that is all. But as to passing from +growls to blows, from pilfering to crime, they care too much for life +and the free air of the fields. Olympe has been saying something +that frightened you, but you know she is in state to be frightened at +nothing," he added, drawing his wife's hand under his arm and pressing +it to warn her to say no more. + +"Cornevin! Juliette!" cried Madame Michaud, who soon saw the head of her +old cook at the window. "I am going for a little walk; take care of the +premises." + +Two enormous dogs, who began to bark, proved that the effectiveness of +the garrison at the gate of the Avonne was not to be despised. Hearing +the dogs, Cornevin, an old Percheron, Olympe's foster-father, came from +behind the trees, showing a head such as no other region than La Perche +can manufacture. Cornevin was undoubtedly a Chouan in 1794 and 1799. + +The whole party accompanied the countess along that one of the six +forest avenues which led directly to the gate of Conches, crossing +the Silver-spring rivulet. Madame de Montcornet walked in front with +Blondet. The abbe and Michaud and his wife talked in a low voice of the +revelation that had just been made to the countess of the state of the +country. + +"Perhaps it is providential," said the abbe; "for if madame is willing, +we might, perhaps, by dint of benefits and constant consideration of +their wants, change the hearts of these people." + +At about six hundred feet from the pavilion and below the brooke, the +countess caught sight of a broken red jug and some spilt milk. + +"Something has happened to the poor child!" she cried, calling to +Michaud and his wife, who were returning to the pavilion. + +"A misfortune like Perrette's," said Blondet, laughing. + +"No; the poor child has been surprised and pursued, for the jug was +thrown outside the path," said the abbe, examining the ground. + +"Yes, that is certainly La Pechina's step," said Michaud; "the print of +the feet, which have turned, you see, quickly, shows sudden terror. The +child must have darted in the direction of the pavilion, trying to get +back there." + +Every one followed the traces which the bailiff pointed out as he walked +along examining them. Presently he stopped in the middle of the path +about a hundred feet from the broken jug, where the girl's foot-prints +ceased. + +"Here," he said, "she turned towards the Avonne; perhaps she was headed +off from the direction of the pavilion." + +"But she has been gone more than an hour," cried Madame Michaud. + +Alarm was in all faces. The abbe ran towards the pavilion, examining the +state of the road, while Michaud, impelled by the same thought, went up +the path towards Conches. + +"Good God! she fell here," said Michaud, returning from a place where +the footsteps stopped near the brook, to that where they had turned in +the road, and pointing to the ground, he added, "See!" + +The marks were plainly seen of a body lying at full length on the sandy +path. + +"The footprints which have entered the wood are those of some one who +wore knitted soles," said the abbe. + +"A woman, then," said the countess. + +"Down there, by the broken pitcher, are the footsteps of a man," added +Michaud. + +"I don't see traces of any other foot," said the abbe, who was tracking +into the wood the prints of the woman's feet. + +"She must have been lifted and carried into the wood," cried Michaud. + +"That can't be, if it is really a woman's foot," said Blondet. + +"It must be some trick of that wretch, Nicolas," said Michaud. "He has +been watching La Pechina for some time. Only this morning I stood two +hours under the bridge of the Avonne to see what he was about. A woman +may have helped him." + +"It is dreadful!" said the countess. + +"They call it amusing themselves," added the priest, in a sad and +grieved tone. + +"Oh! La Pechina would never let them keep her," said the bailiff; "she +is quite able to swim across the river. I shall look along the banks. Go +home, my dear Olympe; and you gentlemen and madame, please to follow the +avenue towards Conches." + +"What a country!" exclaimed the countess. + +"There are scoundrels everywhere," replied Blondet. + +"Is it true, Monsieur l'abbe," asked Madame de Montcornet, "that I saved +the poor child from the clutches of Rigou?" + +"Every young girl over fiften years of age whom you may protect at the +chateau is saved from that monster," said the abbe. "In trying to get +possession of La Pechina from her earliest years, the apostate sought +to satisfy both his lust and his vengeance. When I took Pere Niseron +as sexton I told him what Rigou's intentions were. That is one of the +causes of the late mayor's rancor against me; his hatred grew out of +it. Pere Niseron said to him solemnly that he would kill him if any harm +came to Genevieve, and he made him responsible for all attempts upon the +poor child's honor. I can't help thinking that this pursuit of Nicolas +is the result of some infernal collusion with Rigou, who thinks he can +do as he likes with these people." + +"Doesn't he fear the law?" + +"In the first place, he is father-in-law of the prosecuting-attorney," +said the abbe, pausing to listen. "And then," he resumed, "you have no +conception of the utter indifference of the rural police to what is done +around them. So long as the peasants do not burn the farm-houses and +buildings, commit no murders, poison no one, and pay their taxes, they +let them do as they like; and as these people are not restrained by any +religious principle, horrible things happen every day. On the other side +of the Avonne helpless old men are afraid to stay in their own homes, +for they are allowed nothing to eat; they wander out into the fields +as far as their tottering legs can bear them, knowing well that if they +take to their beds they will die for want of food. Monsieur Sarcus, the +magistrate, tells me that if they arrested and tried all criminals, the +costs would ruin the municipality." + +"Then he at least sees how things are?" said Blondet. + +"Monseigneur thoroughly understands the condition of the valley, and +especially the state of this district," continued the abbe. "Religion +alone can cure such evils; the law seems to me powerless, modified as it +is now--" + +The words were interrupted by loud cries from the woods, and the +countess, preceded by Emile and the abbe, sprang bravely into the +brushwood in the direction of the sounds. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE OARISTYS, EIGHTEENTH ECLOGUE OF THEOCRITUS + +LITTLE ADMIRED ON THE POLICE CALENDAR + +The sagacity of a savage, which Michaud's new occupation had developed +among his faculties, joined to an acquaintance with the passions and +interests of Blangy, enabled him partially to understand a third idyll +in the Greek style, which poor villagers like Tonsard, and middle-aged +rich men like Rigou, translate _freely_--to use the classic word--in the +depths of their country solitudes. + +Nicolas, Tonsard's second son, had drawn an unlucky number at a recent +conscription. Two years earlier his elder brother had been pronounced, +through the influence of Soudry, Gaubertin, and Sarcus the rich, unfit +for military service, on account of a pretended weakness in the muscles +of the right arm; but as Jean-Louis had since wielded instruments of +husbandry with remarkable force and skill, a good deal of talk on the +subject had gone through the district. Soudry, Rigou, and Gaubertin, who +were the special protectors of the family, had warned Tonsard that he +must not expect to save Nicolas, who was tall and vigorous, from being +recruited if he drew a fatal number. Nevertheless Gaubertin and Rigou +were so well aware of the importance of conciliating bold men able and +willing to do mischief, if properly directed against Les Aigues, that +Rigou held out certain hopes of safety to Tonsard and his son. The late +monk was occasionally visited by Catherine Tonsard who was very devoted +to her brother Nicolas; on one such occasion Rigou advised her to appeal +to the general and the countess. + +"They may be glad to do you this service to cajole you; in that case, +it is just so much gained from the enemy," he said. "If the Shopman +refuses, then we shall see what we shall see." + +Rigou foresaw that the general's refusal would pass as one wrong the +more done by the land-owner to the peasantry, and would bind Tonsard by +an additional motive of gratitude to the coalition, in case the crafty +mind of the innkeeper could suggest to him some plausible way of +liberating Nicolas. + +Nicolas, who was soon to appear before the examining board, had little +hope of the general's intervention because of the harm done to Les +Aigues by all the members of the Tonsard family. His passion, or to +speak more correctly, his caprice and obstinate pursuit of La Pechina, +were so aggravated by the prospect of his immediate departure, which +left him no time to seduce her, that he resolved on attempting violence. +The child's contempt for her prosecutor, plainly shown, excited the +Lovelace of the Grand-I-Vert to a hatred whose fury was equalled only +by his desires. For the last three days he had been watching La Pechina, +and the poor child knew she was watched. Between Nicolas and his prey +the same sort of understanding existed which there is between the +hunter and the game. When the girl was at some little distance from the +pavilion she saw Nicolas in one of the paths which ran parallel to the +walls of the park, leading to the bridge of the Avonne. She could easily +have escaped the man's pursuit had she appealed to her grandfather; but +all young girls, even the most unsophisticated, have a strange fear, +possibly instinctive, of trusting to their natural protectors under the +like circumstances. + +Genevieve had heard Pere Niseron take an oath to kill any man, no +matter who he was, who should dare to _touch_ (that was his word) his +granddaughter. The old man thought the child amply protected by the halo +of white hair and honor which a spotless life of three-score years and +ten had laid upon his brow. The vision of bloody scenes terrifies the +imagination of young girls so that they need not dive to the bottom of +their hearts for other numerous and inquisitive reasons which seal their +lips. + +When La Pechina started with the milk which Madame Michaud had sent to +the daughter of Gaillard, the keeper of the gate of Conches, whose cow +had just calved, she looked about her cautiously, like a cat when it +ventures out onto the street. She saw no signs of Nicolas; she listened +to the silence, as the poet says, and hearing nothing, she concluded +that the rascal had gone to his day's work. The peasants were just +beginning to cut the rye; for they were in the habit of getting in their +own harvests first, so as to benefit by the best strength of the mowers. +But Nicolas was not a man to mind losing a day's work,--especially now +that he expected to leave the country after the fair at Soulanges and +begin, as the country people say, the new life of a soldier. + +When La Pechina, with the jug on her head, was about half-way, Nicolas +slid like a wild-cat down the trunk of an elm, among the branches of +which he was hiding, and fell like a thunderbolt in front of the girl, +who flung away her pitcher and trusted to her fleet legs to regain the +pavilion. But a hundred feet farther on, Catherine Tonsard, who was on +the watch, rushed out of the wood and knocked so violently against the +flying girl that she was thrown down. The violence of the fall made her +unconscious. Catherine picked her up and carried her into the woods to +the middle of a tiny meadow where the Silver-spring brook bubbled up. + +Catherine Tonsard was tall and strong, and in every respect the type of +woman whom painters and sculptors take, as the Republic did in former +days, for their figures of Liberty. She charmed the young men of the +valley of the Avonne with her voluminous bosom, her muscular legs, and +a waist as robust as it was flexible; with her plump arms, her eyes that +could flash and sparkle, and her jaunty air; with the masses of hair +twisted in coils around her head, her masculine forehead and her red +lips curling with that same ferocious smile which Eugene Delacroix and +David (of Angers) caught and represented so admirably. True image of the +People, this fiery and swarthy creature seemed to emit revolt through +her piercing yellow eyes, blazing with the insolence of a soldier. She +inherited from her father so violent a nature that the whole family, +except Tonsard, and all who frequented the tavern feared her. + +"Well, how are you now?" she said to La Pechina as the latter recovered +consciousness. + +Catherine had placed her victim on a little mound beside the brook and +was bringing her to her senses with dashes of cold water. "Where am I?" +said the child, opening her beautiful black eyes through which a sun-ray +seemed to glide. + +"Ah!" said Catherine, "if it hadn't been for me you'd have been killed." + +"Thank you," said the girl, still bewildered; "what happened to me?" + +"You stumbled over a root and fell flat in the road over there, as if +shot. Ha! how you did run!" + +"It was your brother who made me," said La Pechina, remembering Nicolas. + +"My brother? I did not see him," said Catherine. "What did he do to you, +poor fellow, that should make you fly as if he were a wolf? Isn't he +handsomer than your Monsieur Michaud?" + +"Oh!" said the girl, contemptuously. + +"See here, little one; you are laying up a crop of evils for yourself by +loving those who persecute us. Why don't you keep to our side?" + +"Why don't you come to church; and why do you steal things night and +day?" asked the child. + +"So you let those people talk you over!" sneered Catherine. "They love +us, don't they?--just as they love their food which they get out of us, +and they want new dishes every day. Did you ever know one of them to +marry a peasant-girl? Not they! Does Sarcus the rich let his son marry +that handsome Gatienne Giboulard? Not he, though she is the daughter of +a rich upholsterer. You have never been at the Tivoli ball at Soulanges +in Socquard's tavern; you had better come. You'll see 'em all there, +these bourgeois fellows, and you'll find they are not worth the money we +shall get out of them when we've pulled them down. Come to the fair this +year!" + +"They say it's fine, that Soulanges fair!" cried La Pechina, artlessly. + +"I'll tell you what it is in two words," said Catherine. "If you are +handsome, you are well ogled. What is the good of being as pretty as you +are if you are not admired by the men? Ha! when I heard one of them say +for the first time, 'What a fine sprig of a girl!' all my blood was on +fire. It was at Socquard's, in the middle of a dance; my grandfather, +Fourchon, who was playing the clarionet, heard it and laughed. Tivoli +seemed to me as grand and fine as heaven itself. It's lighted up, my +dear, with glass lamps, and you'll think you are in paradise. All the +gentlemen of Soulanges and Auxerre and Ville-aux-Fayes will be there. +Ever since that first night I've loved the place where those words rang +in my ears like military music. It's worthy giving your eternity to hear +such words said of you by a man you love." + +"Yes, perhaps," replied La Pechina, thoughtfully. + +"Then come, and get the praise of men; you're sure of it!" cried +Catherine. "Ha! you'll have a fine chance, handsome as you are, to pick +up good luck. There's the son of Monsieur Lupin, Amaury, he might marry +you. But that's not all; if you only knew what comforts you can find +there against vexation and worry. Why, Socquard's boiled wine will make +you forget every trouble you ever had. Fancy! it can make you dream, +and feel as light as a bird. Didn't you ever drink boiled wine? Then you +don't know what life is." + +The privilege enjoyed by older persons to wet their throats with boiled +wine excites the curiosity of the children of the peasantry over twelve +years of age to such a degree that Genevieve had once put her lips to a +glass of boiled wine ordered by the doctor for her grandfather when ill. +The taste had left a sort of magic influence in the memory of the poor +child, which may explain the interest with which she listened, and on +which the evil-minded Catherine counted to carry out a plan already +half-successful. No doubt she was trying to bring her victim, giddy from +the fall, to the moral intoxication so dangerous to young women +living in the wilds of nature, whose imagination, deprived of other +nourishment, is all the more ardent when the occasion comes to exercise +it. Boiled wine, which Catherine had held in reserve, was to end the +matter by intoxicating the victim. + +"What do they put into it?" asked La Pechina. + +"All sorts of things," replied Catherine, glancing back to see if her +brother were coming; "in the first place, those what d' ye call 'ems +that come from India, cinnamon, and herbs that change you by magic,--you +fancy you have everything you wish for; boiled wine makes you happy! you +can snap your fingers at all your troubles!" + +"I should be afraid to drink boiled wine at a dance," said La Pechina. + +"Afraid of what?" asked Catherine. "There's not the slightest danger. +Think what lots of people there will be. All the bourgeois will be +looking at us! Ah! it is one of those days that make up for all our +misery. See it and die,--for it's enough to satisfy any one." + +"If Monsieur and Madame Michaud would only take me!" cried La Pechina, +her eyes blazing. + +"Ask your grandfather Niseron; you have not given him up, poor dear man, +and he'd be pleased to see you admired like a little queen. Why do you +like those Arminacs the Michauds better than your grandfather and the +Burgundians. It's bad to neglect your own people. Besides, why should +the Michauds object if your grandfather takes you to the fair? Oh! if +you knew what it is to reign over a man and put him beside himself, and +say to him, as I say to Godain, 'Go there!' and he goes, 'Do that!' +and he does it! You've got it in you, little one, to turn the head of a +bourgeois like that son of Monsieur Lupin. Monsieur Amaury took a fancy +to my sister Marie because she is fair and because he is half-afraid of +me; but he'd adore you, for ever since those people at the pavilion have +spruced you up a bit you've got the airs of an empress." + +Adroitly leading the innocent heart to forget Nicolas and so put it off +its guard, Catherine distilled into the girl the insidious nectar of +compliments. Unawares, she touched a secret wound. La Pechina, without +being other than a poor peasant girl, was a specimen of alarming +precocity, like many another creature doomed to die as prematurely as it +blooms. Strange product of Burgundian and Montenegrin blood, conceived +and born amid the toils of war, the girl was doubtless in many ways +the result of her congenital circumstances. Thin, slender, brown as +a tobacco leaf, and short in stature, she nevertheless possessed +extraordinary strength,--a strength unseen by the eyes of peasants, to +whom the mysteries of the nervous system are unknown. Nerves are not +admitted into the medical rural mind. + +At thirteen years of age Genevieve had completed her growth, though she +was hardly as tall as an ordinary girl of her age. Did her face owe its +topaz skin, so dark and yet so brilliant, dark in tone and brilliant in +the quality of its tissue, giving a look of age to the childish face, +to her Montenegrin origin, or to the ardent sun of Burgundy? Medical +science may dismiss the inquiry. The premature old age on the surface of +the face was counterbalanced by the glow, the fire, the wealth of light +which made the eyes two stars. Like all eyes which fill with sunlight +and need, perhaps, some sheltering screen, the eyelids were fringed with +lashes of extraordinary length. The hair, of a bluish black, long and +fine and abundant, crowned a brow moulded like that of the Farnese +Juno. That magnificent diadem of hair, those grand Armenian eyes, that +celestial brow eclipsed the rest of the face. The nose, though pure in +form as it left the brow, and graceful in curve, ended in flattened and +flaring nostrils. Anger increased this effect at times, and then the +face wore an absolutely furious expression. All the lower part of the +face, like the lower part of the nose, seemed unfinished, as if the clay +in the hands of the divine sculptor had proved insufficient. Between +the lower lip and the chin the space was so short that any one taking La +Pechina by the chin would have rubbed the lip; but the teeth prevented +all notice of this defect. One might almost believe those little bones +had souls, so brilliant were they, so polished, so transparent, so +exquisitely shaped, disclosed as they were by too wide a mouth, curved +in lines that bore resemblance to the fantastic shapes of coral. The +shells of the ears were so transparent to the light that in the sunshine +they were rose-colored. The complexion, though sun-burned, showed a +marvellous delicacy in the texture of the skin. If, as Buffon declared, +love lies in touch, the softness of the girl's skin must have had the +penetrating and inciting influence of the fragrance of daturas. The +chest and indeed the whole body was alarmingly thin; but the feet and +hands, of alluring delicacy, showed remarkable nervous power, and a +vigorous organism. + +This mixture of diabolical imperfections and divine beauties, harmonious +in spite of discords, for they blended in a species of savage dignity, +also this triumph of a powerful soul over a feeble body, as written in +those eyes, made the child, when once seen, unforgettable. Nature had +wished to make that frail young being a woman; the circumstances of her +conception moulded her with the face and body of a boy. A poet observing +the strange creature would have declared her native clime to be Arabia +the Blest; she belonged to the Afrite and Genii of Arabian tales. +Her face told no lies. She had the soul of that glance of fire, the +intellect of those lips made brilliant by the bewitching teeth, the +thought enshrined within that glorious brow, the passion of those +nostrils ready at all moments to snort flame. Therefore love, such as +we imagine it on burning sands, in lonely deserts, filled that heart +of twenty in the breast of a child, doomed, like the snowy heights of +Montenegro, to wear no flowers of the spring. + +Observers ought now to understand how it was that La Pechina, from whom +passion issued by every pore, awakened in perverted natures the feelings +deadened by abuse; just as water fills the mouth at sight of those +twisted, blotched, and speckled fruits which gourmands know by +experience, and beneath whose skin nature has put the rarest flavors and +perfumes. Why did Nicolas, that vulgar laborer, pursue this being who +was worthy of a poet, while the eyes of the country-folk pitied her as +a sickly deformity? Why did Rigou, the old man, feel the passion of a +young one for this girl? Which of the two men was young, and which was +old? Was the young peasant as blase as the old usurer? Why did these two +extremes of life meet in one common and devilish caprice? Does the vigor +that draws to its close resemble the vigor that is only dawning? The +moral perversities of men are gulfs guarded by sphinxes; they begin and +end in questions to which there is no answer. + +The exclamation, formerly quoted, of the countess, "Piccina!" when +she first saw Genevieve by the roadside, open-mouthed at sight of the +carriage and the elegantly dressed woman within it, will be understood. +This girl, almost a dwarf, of Montenegrin vigor, loved the handsome, +noble bailiff, as children of her age love, when they do love, that is +to say, with childlike passion, with the strength of youth, with the +devotion which in truly virgin souls gives birth to divinest poesy. +Catherine had just swept her coarse hands across the sensitive strings +of that choice harp, strung to the breaking-point. To dance before +Michaud, to shine at the Soulanges ball and inscribe herself on the +memory of that adored master! What glorious thoughts! To fling them into +that volcanic head was like casting live coals upon straw dried in the +August sun. + +"No, Catherine," replied La Pechina, "I am ugly and puny; my lot is to +sit in a corner and never to be married, but live alone in the world." + +"Men like weaklings," said Catherine. "You see me, don't you?" she +added, showing her handsome, strong arms. "I please Godain, who is a +poor stick; I please that little Charles, the count's groom; but Lupin's +son is afraid of me. I tell you it is the small kind of men who love me, +and who say when they see me go by at Ville-aux-Fayes and at Soulanges, +'Ha! what a fine girl!' Now YOU, that's another thing; you'll please the +fine men." + +"Ah! Catherine, if it were true--that!" cried the bewitched child. + +"It is true, it is so true that Nicolas, the handsomest man in the +canton, is mad about you; he dreams of you, he is losing his mind; +and yet all the other girls are in love with him. He is a fine lad! If +you'll put on a white dress and yellow ribbons, and come to Socquard's +for the midsummer ball, you'll be the handsomest girl there, and all +the fine people from Ville-aux-Fayes will see you. Come, won't you?--See +here, I've been cutting grass for the cows, and I brought some boiled +wine in my gourd; Socquard gave it me this morning," she added quickly, +seeing the half-delirious expression in La Pechina's eyes which women +understand so well. "We'll share it together, and you'll fancy the men +are in love with you." + +During this conversation Nicolas, choosing the grassy spots to step on, +had noiselessly slipped behind the trunk of an old oak near which his +sister had seated La Pechina. Catherine, who had now and then cast her +eyes behind her, saw her brother as she turned to get the boiled wine. + +"Here, take some," she said, offering it. + +"It burns me!" cried Genevieve, giving back the gourd, after taking two +or three swallows from it. + +"Silly child!" replied Catherine; "see here!" and she emptied the rustic +bottle without taking breath. "See how it slips down; it goes like a +sunbeam into the stomach." + +"But I ought to be carrying the milk to Mademoiselle Gaillard," cried +Genevieve; "and it is all spilt! Nicolas frightened me so!" + +"Don't you like Nicolas?" + +"No," answered Genevieve. "Why does he persecute me? He can get plenty +other girls, who are willing." + +"But if he likes you better than all the other girls in the valley--" + +"So much the worse for him." + +"I see you don't know him," answered Catherine, as she seized the girl +rapidly by the waist and flung her on the grass, holding her down in +that position with her strong arms. At this moment Nicolas appeared. +Seeing her odious persecutor, the child screamed with all her might, and +drove him five feet away with a violent kick in the stomach; then she +twisted herself like an acrobat, with a dexterity for which Catherine +was not prepared, and rose to run away. Catherine, still on the +ground, caught her by one foot and threw her headlong on her face. This +frightful fall stopped the brave child's cries for a moment. Nicolas +attempted, furiously, to seize his victim, but she, though giddy from +the wine and the fall, caught him by the throat in a grip of iron. + +"Help! she's strangling me, Catherine," cried Nicolas, in a stifled +voice. + +La Pechina uttered piercing screams, which Catherine tried to choke +by putting her hands over the girl's mouth, but she bit them and drew +blood. It was at this moment that Blondet, the countess, and the abbe +appeared at the edge of the wood. + +"Here are those Aigues people!" exclaimed Catherine, helping Genevieve +to rise. + +"Do you want to live?" hissed Nicolas in the child's ear. + +"What then?" she asked. + +"Tell them we were all playing, and I'll forgive you," said Nicolas, in +a threatening voice. + +"Little wretch, mind you say it!" repeated Catherine, whose glance was +more terrifying than her brother's murderous threat. + +"Yes, I will, if you let me alone," replied the child. "But anyhow I +will never go out again without my scissors." + +"You are to hold your tongue, or I'll drown you in the Avonne," said +Catherine, ferociously. + +"You are monsters," cried the abbe, coming up; "you ought to be arrested +and taken to the assizes." + +"Ha! and pray what do you do in your drawing-rooms?" said Nicolas, +looking full at the countess and Blondet. "You play and amuse +yourselves, don't you? Well, so do we, in the fields which are ours. +We can't always work; we must play sometimes,--ask my sister and La +Pechina." + +"How do you fight if you call that playing?" cried Blondet. + +Nicolas gave him a murderous look. + +"Speak!" said Catherine, gripping La Pechina by the forearm and leaving +a blue bracelet on the flesh. "Were not we amusing ourselves?" + +"Yes, madame, we were amusing ourselves," said the child, exhausted by +her display of strength, and now breaking down as though she were about +to faint. + +"You hear what she says, madame," said Catherine, boldly, giving the +countess one of those looks which women give each other like dagger +thrusts. + +She took her brother's arm, and the pair walked off, not mistaking the +opinion they left behind them in the minds of the three persons who had +interrupted the scene. Nicolas twice looked back, and twice encountered +Blondet's gaze. The journalist continued to watch the tall scoundrel, +who was broad in the shoulders, healthy and vigorous in complexion, with +black hair curling tightly, and whose rather soft face showed upon +its lips and around the mouth certain lines which reveal the peculiar +cruelty that characterizes sluggards and voluptuaries. Catherine swung +her petticoat, striped blue and white, with an air of insolent coquetry. + +"Cain and his wife!" said Blondet to the abbe. + +"You are nearer the truth than you know," replied the priest. + +"Ah! Monsieur le cure, what will they do to me?" said La Pechina, when +the brother and sister were out of sight. + +The countess, as white as her handkerchief, was so overcome that she +heard neither Blondet nor the abbe nor La Pechina. + +"It is enough to drive one from this terrestrial paradise," she said +at last. "But the first thing of all is to save that child from their +claws." + +"You are right," said Blondet in a low voice. "That child is a poem, a +living poem." + +Just then the Montenegrin girl was in a state where soul and body smoke, +as it were, after the conflagration of an anger which has driven all +forces, physical and intellectual, to their utmost tension. It is an +unspeakable and supreme splendor, which reveals itself only under the +pressure of some frenzy, be it resistance or victory, love or martyrdom. +She had left home in a dress with alternate lines of brown and yellow, +and a collarette which she pleated herself by rising before daylight; +and she had not yet noticed the condition of her gown soiled by her +struggle on the grass, and her collar torn in Catherine's grasp. Feeling +her hair hanging loose, she looked about her for a comb. At this moment +Michaud, also attracted by the screams, came upon the scene. Seeing her +god, La Pechina recovered her full strength. "Monsieur Michaud," she +cried, "he did not even touch me!" + +The cry, the look, the action of the girl were an eloquent commentary, +and told more to Blondet and the abbe than Madame Michaud had told the +countess about the passion of that strange nature for the bailiff, who +was utterly unconscious of it. + +"The scoundrel!" cried Michaud. + +Then, with an involuntary and impotent gesture, such as mad men and wise +men can both be forced into giving, he shook his fist in the direction +in which he had caught sight of Nicolas disappearing with his sister. + +"Then you were not playing?" said the abbe with a searching look at La +Pechina. + +"Don't fret her," interposed the countess; "let us return to the +pavilion." + +Genevieve, though quite exhausted, found strength under Michaud's eyes +to walk. The countess followed the bailiff through one of the by-paths +known to keepers and poachers where only two can go abreast, and which +led to the gate of the Avonne. + +"Michaud," said the countess when they reached the depth of the wood, +"We must find some way of ridding the neighborhood of such vile people; +that child is actually in danger of death." + +"In the first place," replied Michaud, "Genevieve shall not leave the +pavilion. My wife will be glad to take the nephew of Vatel, who has the +care of the park roads, into the house. With Gounod (that is his name) +and old Cornevin, my wife's foster-father, always at hand, La Pechina +need never go out without a protector." + +"I will tell Monsieur to make up this extra expense to you," said the +countess. "But this does not rid us of that Nicolas. How can we manage +that?" + +"The means are easy and right at hand," answered Michaud. "Nicolas is to +appear very soon before the court of appeals on the draft. The general, +instead of asking for his release, as the Tonsards expect, has only to +advise his being sent to the army--" + +"If necessary, I will go myself," said the countess, "and see my cousin, +de Casteran, the prefect. But until then, I tremble for that child--" + +The words were said at the end of the path close to the open space by +the bridge. As they reached the edge of the bank the countess gave a +cry; Michaud advanced to help her, thinking she had struck her foot +against a stone; but he shuddered at the sight that met his eyes. + +Marie Tonsard and Bonnebault, seated below the bank, seemed to be +conversing, but were no doubt hiding there to hear what passed. +Evidently they had left the wood as the party advanced towards them. + +Bonnebault, a tall, wiry fellow, had lately returned to Conches after +six years' service in the cavalry, with a permanent discharge due to +his evil conduct,--his example being likely to ruin better men. He wore +moustachios and a small chin-tuft; a peculiarity which, joined to his +military carriage, made him the reigning fancy of all the girls in the +valley. His hair, in common with that of other soldiers, was cut very +short behind, but he frizzed it on the top of his head, brushing up the +ends with a dandy air; on it his foraging cap was jauntily tilted to one +side. Compared to the peasants, who were mostly in rags, like Mouche +and Fourchon, he seemed gorgeous in his linen trousers, boots, and short +waistcoat. These articles, bought at the time of his liberation, were, +it is true, somewhat the worse for a life in the fields; but this +village cock-of-the-walk had others in reserve for balls and holidays. +He lived, it must be said, on the gifts of his female friends, +which, liberal as they were, hardly sufficed for the libations, the +dissipations, and the squanderings of all kinds which resulted from his +intimacy with the Cafe de la Paix. + +Cowardice is like courage; of both there are various kinds. Bonnebault +would have fought like a brave soldier, but he was weak in presence of +his vices and his desires. Lazy as a lizard, that is to say, active only +when it suited him, without the slightest decency, arrogant and base, +able for much but neglectful of all, the sole pleasure of this "breaker +of hearts and plates," to use a barrack term, was to do evil or inflict +damage. Such a nature does as much harm in rural communities as it does +in a regiment. Bonnebault, like Tonsard and like Fourchon, desired to +live well and do nothing; and he had his plans laid. Making the most of +his gallant appearance with increasing success, and of his talents for +billiards with alternate loss and gain, he flattered himself that the +day would come when he could marry Mademoiselle Aglae Socquard, only +daughter of the proprietor of the Cafe de la Paix, a resort which was +to Soulanges what, relatively speaking, Ranelagh is to the Bois de +Boulogne. To get into the business of tavern-keeping, to manage +the public balls, what a fine career for the marshal's baton of a +ne'er-do-well! These morals, this life, this nature, were so plainly +stamped upon the face of the low-lived profligate that the countess was +betrayed into an exclamation when she beheld the pair, for they gave her +the sensation of beholding snakes. + +Marie, desperately in love with Bonnebault, would have robbed for +his benefit. Those moustachios, the swaggering gait of a trooper, the +fellow's smart clothes, all went to her heart as the manners and charms +of a de Marsay touch that of a pretty Parisian. Each social sphere +has its own standard of distinction. The jealous Marie rebuffed Amaury +Lupin, the other dandy of the little town, her mind being made up to +become Madame Bonnebault. + +"Hey! you there, hi! come on!" cried Nicolas and Catherine from afar, +catching sight of Marie and Bonnebault. + +The sharp call echoed through the woods like the cry of savages. + +Seeing the pair at his feet, Michaud shuddered and deeply repented +having spoken. If Bonnebault and Marie Tonsard had overheard +the conversation, nothing but harm could come of it. This event, +insignificant as it seems, was destined, in the irritated state of +feeling then existing between Les Aigues and the peasantry, to have a +decisive influence on the fate of all,--just as victory or defeat in +battle sometimes depends upon a brook which shepherds jump while cannon +are unable to pass it. + +Gallantly bowing to the countess, Bonnebault passed Marie's arm through +his own with a conquering air and took himself off triumphantly. + +"The King of Hearts of the valley," muttered Michaud to the countess. "A +dangerous man. When he loses twenty francs at billiards he would murder +Rigou to get them back. He loves a crime as he does a pleasure." + +"I have seen enough for to-day; take me home, gentlemen," murmured the +countess, putting her hand on Emile's arm. + +She bowed sadly to Madame Michaud, after watching La Pechina safely back +to the pavilion. Olympe's depression was transferred to her mistress. + +"Ah, madame," said the abbe, as they continued their way, "can it be +that the difficulty of doing good is about to deter you? For the +last five years I have slept on a pallet in a parsonage which has no +furniture; I say mass in a church without believers; I preach to no +hearers; I minister without fees or salary; I live on the six hundred +francs the law allows me, asking nothing of my bishop, and I give the +third of that in charity. Still, I am not hopeless. If you knew what +my winters are in this place you would understand the strength of those +words,--I am not hopeless. I keep myself warm with the belief that we +can save this valley and bring it back to God. No matter for ourselves, +madame; think of the future! If it is our duty to say to the poor, +'Learn how to be poor; that is, how to work, to endure, to strive,' it +is equally our duty to say to the rich, 'Learn your duty as prosperous +men,'--that is to say, 'Be wise, be intelligent in your benevolence; +pious and virtuous in the place to which God has called you.' Ah! +madame, you are only the steward of Him who grants you wealth; if you +do not obey His behests you will never transmit to your children the +prosperity He gives you. You will rob your posterity. If you follow in +the steps of that poor singer's selfishness, which caused the evils that +now terrify us, you will bring back the scaffolds on which your fathers +died for the faults of their fathers. To do good humbly, in obscurity, +in country solitudes, as Rigou now does evil,--ah! that indeed is prayer +in action and dear to God. If in every district three souls only would +work for good, France, our country, might be saved from the abyss +that yawns; into which we are rushing headlong, through spiritual +indifference to all that is not our own self-interest. Change! you must +change your morals, change your ethics, and that will change your laws." + +Though deeply moved as she listened to this grand utterance of true +catholic charity, the countess answered in the fatal words, "We will +consider it,"--words of the rich, which contain that promise to the ear +which saves their purses and enables them to stand with arms crossed in +presence of all disaster, under pretext that they were powerless. + +Hearing those words, the abbe bowed to Madame de Montcornet and turned +off into a path which led him direct to the gate of Blangy. + +"Belshazzar's feast is the everlasting symbol of the dying days of a +caste, of an oligarchy, of a power!" he thought as he walked away. +"My God! if it be Thy will to loose the poor like a torrent to reform +society, I know, I comprehend, why it is that Thou hast abandoned the +wealthy to their blindness!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. SHOWETH HOW THE TAVERN IS THE PEOPLE'S PARLIAMENT + + +Old Mother Tonsard's screams brought a number of people from Blangy +to know what was happening at the Grand-I-Vert, the distance from the +village to the inn not being greater than that from the inn to the gate +of Blangy. One of these inquiring visitors was old Niseron, La Pechina's +grandfather, who was on his way, after ringing the second Angelus, to +dig the vine-rows in his last little bit of ground. + +Bent by toil, with pallid face and silvery hair, the old vinedresser, +now the sole representative of civic virtue in the community, had been, +during the Revolution, president of the Jacobin club at Ville-aux-Fayes, +and a juror in the revolutionary tribunal of the district. Jean-Francois +Niseron, carved out of the wood that the apostles were made of, was +of the type of Saint Peter; whom painters and sculptors have united in +representing with the square brow of the people, the thick, naturally +curling hair of the laborer, the muscles of the man of toil, the +complexion of a fisherman; with the large nose, the shrewd, half-mocking +lips that scoff at fate, the neck and shoulders of the strong man who +cuts his wood to cook his dinner while the doctrinaires of his opinions +talk. + +Such, at forty years of age on the breaking out of the Revolution, +was this man, strong as iron, pure as gold. Advocate of the people, +he believed in a republic through the very roll of that name, more +formidable in sound perhaps than in reality. He believed in the republic +of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in the brotherhood of man, in the exchange of +noble sentiments, in the proclamation of virtue, in the choice of +merit without intrigue,--in short, in all that the narrow limits of one +arrondissement like Sparta made possible, and which the vast proportions +of an empire make chimerical. He signed his beliefs with his blood,--his +only son went to war; he did more, he signed them with the prosperity of +his life,--last sacrifice of self. Nephew and sole heir of the curate of +Blangy, the then all-powerful tribune might have enforced his rights and +recovered the property left by the priest to his pretty servant-girl, +Arsene; but he respected his uncle's wishes and accepted poverty, which +came upon him as rapidly as the fall of his cherished republic came upon +France. + +Never a farthing's worth, never so much as the branch of a tree +belonging to another passed into the hands of this notable republican, +who would have made the republic acceptable to the world if he and such +as he could have guided it. He refused to buy the national domains; he +denied the right of the Republic to confiscate property. In reply to all +demands of the committee of public safety he asserted that the virtue of +citizens would do for their sacred country what low political intriguers +did for money. This patriot of antiquity publicly reproved Gaubertin's +father for his secret treachery, his underhand bargaining, his +malversations. He reprimanded the virtuous Mouchon, that representative +of the people whose virtue was nothing more nor less than +incapacity,--as it is with so many other legislators who, gorged with +the greatest political resources that any nation ever gave, armed with +the whole force of a people, are still unable to bring forth from them +the grandeur which Richelieu wrung for France out of the weakness of +a king. Consequently, citizen Niseron became a living reproach to the +people about him. They endeavored to put him out of sight and mind with +the reproachful remark, "Nothing satisfies that man." + +The patriot peasant returned to his cot at Blangy and watched the +destruction, one by one, of his illusions; he saw his republic come +to an end at the heels of an emperor, while he himself fell into utter +poverty, to which Rigou stealthily managed to reduce him. And why? +Because Niseron had never been willing to accept anything from him. +Reiterated refusals showed the ex-priest in what profound contempt the +nephew of the curate held him; and now that icy scorn was revenged by +the terrible threat as to his little granddaughter, about which the Abbe +Brossette spoke to the countess. + +The old man had composed in his own mind a history of the French +republic, filled with the glorious features which gave immortality to +that heroic period to the exclusion of all else. The infamous deeds, the +massacres, the spoliations, his virtuous soul ignored; he admired, with +a single mind, the devotedness of the people, the "Vengeur," the gifts +to the nation, the uprising of the country to defend its frontier; and +he still pursued his dream that he might sleep in peace. + +The Revolution produced many poets like old Niseron, who sang their +poems in the country solitudes, in the army, openly or secretly, by +deeds buried beneath the whirlwind of that storm, just as the wounded +left behind to die in the great wars of the empire cried out, "Long live +the Emperor!" This sublimity of soul belongs especially to France. The +Abbe Brossette respected the convictions of the old man, who became +simply but deeply attached to the priest from hearing him say, "The true +republic is in the Gospel." The stanch republican carried the cross, +and wore the sexton's robe, half-red, half-black, and was grave and +dignified in church,--supporting himself by the triple functions with +which he was invested by the abbe, who was able to give the fine old +man, not, to be sure, enough to live on, but enough to keep him from +dying of hunger. + +Niseron, the Aristides of Blangy, spoke little, like all noble dupes who +wrap themselves in the mantle of resignation; but he was never silent +against evil, and the peasants feared him as thieves fear the police. +He seldom came more than six times a year to the Grand-I-Vert, though he +was always warmly welcomed there. The old man cursed the want of charity +of the rich,--their selfishness disgusted him; and through this fiber of +his mind he seemed to the peasants to belong to them; they were in the +habit of saying, "Pere Niseron doesn't like the rich; he's one of us." + +The civic crown won by this noble life throughout the valley lay in +these words: "That good old Niseron! there's not a more honest man." +Often taken as umpire in certain kinds of disputes, he embodied the +meaning of that archaic term,--the village elder. Always extremely +clean, though threadbare, he wore breeches, coarse woollen stockings, +hob-nailed shoes, the distinctively French coat with large buttons and +the broad-brimmed felt hat to which all old peasants cling; but for +daily wear he kept a blue jacket so patched and darned that it looked +like a bit of tapestry. The pride of a man who feels he is free, and +knows he is worthy of freedom, gave to his countenance and his whole +bearing a _something_ that was inexpressibly noble; you would have felt +he wore a robe, not rags. + +"Hey! what's happening so unusual?" he said, "I heard the noise down +here from the belfry." + +They told him of Vatel's attack on the old woman, talking all at once +after the fashion of country-people. + +"If she didn't cut the tree, Vatel was wrong; but if she did cut it, you +have done two bad actions," said Pere Niseron. + +"Take some wine," said Tonsard, offering a full glass to the old man. + +"Shall we start?" said Vermichel to the sheriff's officer. + +"Yes," replied Brunet, "we must do without Pere Fourchon and take the +assistant at Conches. Go on before me; I have a paper to carry to the +chateau. Rigou has gained his second suit, and I've got to deliver the +verdict." + +So saying, Monsieur Brunet, all the livelier for a couple of glasses of +brandy, mounted his gray mare after saying good-bye to Pere Niseron; for +the whole valley were desirous in their hearts of the good man's esteem. + +No science, not even that of statistics, can explain the rapidity with +which news flies in the country, nor how it spreads over those ignorant +and untaught regions which are, in France, a standing reproach to the +government and to capitalists. Contemporaneous history can show that a +famous banker, after driving post-horses to death between Waterloo +and Paris (everybody knows why--he gained what the Emperor had lost, +a commission!) carried the fatal news only three hours in advance of +rumor. So, not an hour after the encounter between old mother Tonsard +and Vatel, a number of the customers of the Grand-I-Vert assembled there +to hear the tale. + +The first to come was Courtecuisse, in whom you would scarcely have +recognized the once jovial forester, the rubicund do-nothing, whose +wife made his morning coffee as we have before seen. Aged, and thin, +and haggard, he presented to all eyes a lesson that no one learned. "He +tried to climb higher than the ladder," was what his neighbors said +when others pitied him and blamed Rigou. "He wanted to be a bourgeois +himself." + +In fact, Courtecuisse did intend to pass for a bourgeois in buying the +Bachelerie, and he even boasted of it; though his wife went about the +roads gathering up the horse-droppings. She and Courtecuisse got +up before daylight, dug their garden, which was richly manured, and +obtained several yearly crops from it, without being able to do more +than pay the interest due to Rigou for the rest of the purchase-money. +Their daughter, who was living at service in Auxerre, sent them her +wages; but in spite of all their efforts, in spite of this help, the +last day for the final payment was approaching, and not a penny in +hand with which to meet it. Madame Courtecuisse, who in former times +occasionally allowed herself a bottle of boiled wine or a bit of roast +meat, now drank nothing but water. Courtecuisse was afraid to go to +the Grand-I-Vert lest he should have to leave three sous behind him. +Deprived of power, he had lost his privilege of free drinks, and he +bitterly complained, like all other fools, of man's ingratitude. In +short, he found, according to the experience of all peasants bitten with +the demon of proprietorship, that toil had increased and food decreased. + +"Courtecuisse has done too much to the property," the people said, +secretly envying his position. "He ought to have waited till he had paid +the money down and was master before he put up those fruit palings." + +With the help of his wife he had managed to manure and cultivate the +three acres of land sold to him by Rigou, together with the garden +adjoining the house, which was beginning to be productive; and he was +in danger of being turned out of it all. Clothed in rags like Fourchon, +poor Courtecuisse, who lately wore the boots and gaiters of a huntsman, +now thrust his feet into sabots and accused "the rich" of Les Aigues of +having caused his destitution. These wearing anxieties had given to the +fat little man and his once smiling and rosy face a gloomy and dazed +expression, as though he were ill from the effects of poison or with +some chronic malady. + +"What's the matter with you, Monsieur Courtecuisse; is your tongue +tied?" asked Tonsard, as the man continued silent after he had told him +about the battle which had just taken place. + +"No, no!" cried Madame Tonsard; "he needn't complain of the midwife who +cut his string,--she made a good job of it." + +"It is enough to make a man dumb, thinking from morning till night of +some way to escape Rigou," said the premature old man, gloomily. + +"Bah!" said old Mother Tonsard, "you've got a pretty daughter, seventeen +years old. If she's a good girl you can easily manage matters with that +old jail bird--" + +"We sent her to Auxerre two years ago to Madame Mariotte the elder, to +keep her out of harm's way; I'd rather die than--" + +"What a fool you are!" said Tonsard, "look at my girls,--are they any +the worse? He who dares to say they are not as virtuous as marble images +will have to do with my gun." + +"It'll be hard to have to come to that," said Courtecuisse, shaking his +head. "I'd rather earn the money by shooting one of those Arminacs." + +"Well, I call it better for a girl to save a father than to wrap up her +virtue and let it mildew," retorted the innkeeper. + +Tonsard felt a sharp tap on his shoulder, delivered by Pere Niseron. + +"That is not a right thing to say!" cried the old man. "A father is the +guardian of the honor of his family. It is by behaving as you do that +scorn and contempt are brought upon us; it is because of such conduct +that the People are accused of being unfit for liberty. The People +should set an example of civic virtue and honor to the rich. You all +sell yourselves to Rigou for gold; and if you don't sell him your +daughters, at any rate you sell him your honor,--and it's wrong." + +"Just see what a position Courtecuisse is in," said Tonsard. + +"See what a position I am in," replied Pere Niseron; "but I sleep in +peace; there are no thorns in my pillow." + +"Let him talk, Tonsard," whispered his wife, "you know they're just _his +notions_, poor dear man." + +Bonnebault and Marie, Catherine and her brother came in at this moment +in a state of exasperation, which had begun with Nicolas's failure, +and was raised to the highest pitch by Michaud's advice to the countess +about Bonnebault. As Nicolas entered the tavern he was uttering +frightful threats against the Michaud family and Les Aigues. + +"The harvest's coming; well, I vow I'll not go before I've lighted my +pipe at their wheat-stacks," he cried, striking his fist on the table as +he sat down. + +"Mustn't yelp like that before people," said Godain, showing him Pere +Niseron. + +"If the old fellow tells, I'll wring his neck," said Catherine. +"He's had his day, that old peddler of foolish reasons! They call him +virtuous; it's his temperament that keeps him so, that's all." + +Strange and noteworthy sight!--that of those lifted heads, that group +of persons gathered in the reeking hovel, while old Mother Tonsard stood +sentinel at the door as security for the secret words of the drinkers. + +Of all those faces, that of Godain, Catherine's suitor, was perhaps the +most alarming, though the least pronounced. Godain,--a miser without +money,--the cruelest of misers, for he who seeks money surely takes +precedence of him who hoards it, one turning his eagerness within +himself, the other looking outside with terrible intentness,--Godain +represented the type of the majority of peasant faces. + +He was a journeyman, small in frame, and saved from the draft by not +attaining the required military height; naturally lean and made more +so by hard work and the enforced sobriety under which reluctant workers +like Courtecuisse succumb. His face was no bigger than a man's fist, +and was lighted by a pair of yellow eyes with greenish strips and brown +spots, in which a thirst for the possession of property was mingled +with a concupiscence which had no heat,--for desire, once at the +boiling-point, had now stiffened like lava. His skin, brown as that of +a mummy, was glued to his temples. His scanty beard bristled among +his wrinkles like stubble in the furrows. Godain never perspired, he +reabsorbed his substance. His hairy hands, formed like claws, nervous, +never still, seemed to be made of old wood. Though scarcely twenty-seven +years of age, white lines were beginning to show in his rusty black +hair. He wore a blouse, through the breast opening of which could be +seen a shirt of coarse linen, so black that he must have worn it a month +and washed it himself in the Thune. His sabots were mended with old +iron. The original stuff of his trousers was unrecognizable from the +darns and the infinite number of patches. On his head was a horrible +cap, evidently cast off and picked up in the doorway of some bourgeois +house in Ville-aux-Fayes. + +Clear-sighted enough to estimate the elements of good fortune that +centred in Catherine Tonsard, his ambition was to succeed her father at +the Grand-I-Vert. He made use of all his craftiness and all his actual +powers to capture her; he promised her wealth, he also promised her the +license her mother had enjoyed; besides this, he offered his prospective +father-in-law an enormous rental, five hundred francs a year, for his +inn, until he could buy him out, trusting to an agreement he had made +with Monsieur Brunet to pay these costs by notes on stamped paper. By +trade a journeyman tool-maker, this gnome worked for the wheelwrights +when work was plentiful, but he also hired himself out for any extra +labor which was well paid. Though he possessed, unknown to the whole +neighborhood, eighteen hundred francs now in Gaubertin's hands, he lived +like a beggar, slept in a barn, and gleaned at the harvests. He wore +Gaubertin's receipt for his money sewn into the waist-belt of his +trousers,--having it renewed every year with its own added interest and +the amount of his savings. + +"Hey! what do I care," cried Nicolas, replying to Godain's prudent +advice not to talk before Niseron. "If I'm doomed to be a soldier +I'd rather the sawdust of the basket sucked up my blood than have it +dribbled out drop by drop in the battles. I'll deliver this country of +at least one of those Arminacs that the devil has launched upon us." + +And he related what he called Michaud's plot against him, which Marie +and Bonnebault had overheard. + +"Where do you expect France to find soldiers?" said the white-haired +old man, rising and standing before Nicolas during the silence which +followed the utterance of this threat. + +"We serve our time and come home again," remarked Bonnebault, twirling +his moustache. + +Observing that all the worst characters of the neighborhood were +collecting, Pere Niseron shook his head and left the tavern, after +offering a farthing to Madame Tonsard in payment for his glass of wine. +When the worthy man had gone down the steps a movement of relief and +satisfaction passed through the assembled drinkers which would have told +whoever watched them that each man in that company felt he was rid of +the living image of his own conscience. + +"Well, what do you say to all that, hey, Courtecuisse?" asked Vaudoyer, +who had just come in, and to whom Tonsard had related Vatel's attempt. + +Courtecuisse clacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and set +his glass on the table. + +"Vatel put himself in the wrong," he said. "If I were Mother Tonsard, +I'd give myself a few wounds and go to bed and say I was ill, and have +that Shopman and his keeper up before the assizes and get twenty crowns +damages. Monsieur Sarcus would give them." + +"In any case the Shopman would give them to stop the talk it would +make," said Godain. + +Vaudoyer, the former field-keeper, a man five feet six inches tall, with +a face pitted with the small-pox and furrowed like a nut-cracker, kept +silence with a hesitating air. + +"Well, you old ninny, does that ruffle you?" asked Tonsard, attracted +by the idea of damages. "If they had broken twenty crowns' worth of my +mother's bones we could turn it into good account; we might make a fine +fuss for three hundred francs; Monsieur Gourdon would go to Les Aigues +and tell them that the mother had got a broken hip--" + +"And break it, too," interrupted Madame Tonsard; "they do that in +Paris." + +"It would cost too much," remarked Godain. + +"I have been too long among the people who rule us to believe that +matters will go as you want them," said Vaudoyer at last, remembering +his past official intercourse with the courts and the gendarmerie. "If +it were at Soulanges, now, it might be done; Monsieur Soudry represents +the government there, and he doesn't wish well to the Shopman; but if +you attack the Shopman and Vatel they'll defend themselves viciously; +they'll say, 'The woman was to blame; she had a tree, otherwise she +would have let her bundle be examined on the highroad; she wouldn't have +run away; if an accident happened to her it was through her own fault.' +No, you can't trust to that plan." + +"The Shopman didn't resist when I sued him," said Courtecuisse; "he paid +me at once." + +"I'll go to Soulanges, if you like," said Bonnebault, "and consult +Monsieur Gourdon, the clerk of the court, and you shall know to-night if +_there's money in it_." + +"You are only making an excuse to be after that big goose of a girl, +Socquard's daughter," said Marie Tonsard, giving Bonnebault a slap on +the shoulder that made his lungs hum. + +Just then a verse of an old Burgundian Christmas carol was heard:-- + + "One fine moment of his life + Was at the wedding feast; + He changed the water into wine,-- + Madeira of the best." + +Every one recognized the vinous voice of old Fourchon, to whom the verse +must have been peculiarly agreeable; Mouche accompanied in his treble +tones. + +"Ha! they're full!" cried old Mother Tonsard to her daughter-in-law; +"your father is as red as a grid-iron, and that chip o' the block as +pink as vine-shoot." + +"Your healths!" cried the old man, "and a fine lot of scoundrels you +are! All hail!" he said to his granddaughter, whom he spied kissing +Bonnebault, "hail, Marie, full of vice! Satan is with three; cursed art +thou among women, etcetera. All hail, the company present! you are done +for, every one of you! you may just say good-bye to your sheaves. I +being news. I always told you the rich would crush us; well now, the +Shopman is going to have the law of you! Ha! see what it is to struggle +against those bourgeois fellows, who have made so many laws since they +got into power that they've a law to enforce every trick they play--" + +A violent hiccough gave a sudden turn to the ideas of the distinguished +orator. + +"If Vermichel were only here I'd blow in his gullet, and he'd get an +idea of sherry wine. Hey! what a wine it is! If I wasn't a Burgundian +I'd be a Spaniard! It's God's own wine! the pope says mass with it--Hey! +I'm young again! Say, Courtecuisse! if your wife were only here we'd be +young together. Don't tell me! Spanish wine is worth a dozen of boiled +wine. Let's have a revolution if it's only to empty the cellars!" + +"But what's your news, papa?" said Tonsard. + +"There'll be no harvest for you; the Shopman has given orders to stop +the gleaning." + +"Stop the gleaning!" cried the whole tavern, with one voice, in which +the shrill tones of the four women predominated. + +"Yes," said Mouche, "he is going to issue an order, and Groison is to +take it round, and post it up all over the canton. No one is to glean +except those who have pauper certificates." + +"And what's more," said Fourchon, "the folks from the other districts +won't be allowed here at all." + +"What's that?" cried Bonnebault, "do you mean to tell me that neither +my grandmother nor I, nor your mother, Godain, can come here and glean? +Here's tomfoolery for you; a pretty show of authority! Why, the fellow +is a devil let loose from hell,--that scoundrel of a mayor!" + +"Shall you glean whether or no, Godain?" said Tonsard to the journeyman +wheelwright, who was saying a few words to Catherine. + +"I? I've no property; I'm a pauper," he replied; "I shall ask for a +certificate." + +"What did they give my father for his otter, bibi?" said Madame Tonsard +to Mouche. + +Though nearly at his last gasp from an over-taxed digestion and two +bottles of wine, Mouche, sitting on Madame Tonsard's lap, laid his head +on his aunt's neck and whispered slyly in her ear:-- + +"I don't know, but he has got gold. If you'll feed me high for a month, +perhaps I can find out his hiding-place; he has one, I know that." + +"Father's got gold!" whispered La Tonsard to her husband, whose voice +was loudest in the uproar of the excited discussion, in which all +present took part. + +"Hush! here's Groison," cried the old sentinel. + +Perfect silence reigned in the tavern. When Groison had got to a safe +distance, Mother Tonsard made a sign, and the discussion began again on +the question as to whether they should persist in gleaning, as before, +without a certificate. + +"You'll have to give in," said Pere Fourchon; "for the Shopman has gone +to see the prefect and get troops to enforce the order. They'll shoot +you like dogs,--and that's what we are!" cried the old man, trying +to conquer the thickening of his speech produced by his potations of +sherry. + +This fresh announcement, absurd as it was, made all the drinkers +thoughtful; they really believed the government capable of slaughtering +them without pity. + +"I remember just such troubles near Toulouse, when I was stationed +there," said Bonnebault. "We were marched out, and the peasants were cut +and slashed and arrested. Everybody laughed to see them try to resist +cavalry. Ten were sent to the galleys, and eleven put in prison; the +whole thing was crushed. Hey! what? why, soldiers are soldiers, and you +are nothing but civilian beggars; they've a right, they think, to sabre +peasants, the devil take you!" + +"Well, well," said Tonsard, "what is there in all that to frighten you +like kids? What can they get out of my mother and daughters? Put 'em in +prison? well, then they must feed them; and the Shopman can't imprison +the whole country. Besides, prisoners are better fed at the king's +expense than they are at their own; and they're kept warmer, too." + +"You are a pack of fools!" roared Fourchon. "Better gnaw at the +bourgeois than attack him in front; otherwise, you'll get your backs +broke. If you like the galleys, so be it,--that's another thing! You +don't work as hard there as you do in the fields, true enough; but you +don't have your liberty." + +"Perhaps it would be well," said Vaudoyer, who was among the more +valiant in counsel, "if some of us risked our skins to deliver the +neighborhood of that Languedoc fellow who has planted himself at the +gate of the Avonne." + +"Do Michaud's business for him?" said Nicolas; "I'm good for that." + +"Things are not ripe for it," said old Fourchon. "We should risk too +much, my children. The best way is to make ourselves look miserable +and cry famine; then the Shopman and his wife will want to help us, and +you'll get more out of them that way than you will by gleaning." + +"You are all blind moles," shouted Tonsard, "let 'em pick a quarrel with +their law and their troops, they can't put the whole country in irons, +and we've plenty of friends at Ville-aux-Fayes and among the old lords +who'll sustain us." + +"That's true," said Courtecuisse; "none of the other land-owners +complain, it is only the Shopman; Monsieur de Soulanges and Monsieur de +Ronquerolles and others, they are satisfied. When I think that if that +cuirassier had only had the courage to let himself be killed like the +rest I should still be happy at the gate of the Avonne, and that it was +he that turned my life topsy-turvy, it just puts me beside myself." + +"They won't call out the troops for a Shopman who has set every one in +the district against him," said Godain. "The fault's his own; he tried +to ride over everybody here, and upset everything; and the government +will just say to him, 'Hush up.'" + +"The government never says anything else; it can't, poor government!" +said Fourchon, seized with a sudden tenderness for the government. "Yes, +I pity it, that good government; it is very unlucky,--it hasn't a penny, +like us; but that's very stupid of a government that makes the money +itself, very stupid! Ah! if I were the government--" + +"But," cried Courtecuisse, "they tell me in Ville-aux-Fayes that +Monsieur de Ronquerolles talked about our rights in the Assembly." + +"That's in Monsieur Rigou's newspaper," said Vaudoyer, who in his +capacity of ex-field-keeper knew how to read and write; "I read it--" + +In spite of his vinous tenderness, old Fourchon, like many of the lower +classes whose faculties are stimulated by drunkenness, was following, +with an intelligent eye and a keen ear, this curious discussion which a +variety of asides rendered still more curious. Suddenly, he stood up in +the middle of the room. + +"Listen to the old one, he's drunk!" said Tonsard, "and when he is, he +is twice as full of deviltry; he has his own and that of the wine--" + +"Spanish wine, and that trebles it!" cried Fourchon, laughing like a +satyr. "My sons, don't butt your head straight at the thing,--you're too +weak; go at it sideways. Lay low, play dead; the little woman is scared. +I tell you, the thing'll come to an end before long; she'll leave +the place, and if she does the Shopman will follow her, for she's his +passion. That's your plan. Only, to make 'em go faster, my advice is to +get rid of their counsellor, their support, our spy, our ape--" + +"Who's that?" + +"The damned abbe, of course," said Tonsard; "that hunter after sins, who +thinks the host is food enough for us." + +"That's true," cried Vaudoyer; "we were happy enough till he came. We +ought to get rid of that eater of the good God,--he's the real enemy." + +"Finikin," added Fourchon, using a nickname which the abbe owed to his +prim and rather puny appearance, "might be led into temptation and fall +into the power of some sly girl, for he fasts so much. Then if we could +catch him in the act and drum him up with a good charivari, the bishop +would be obliged to send him elsewhere. It would please old Rigou +devilish well. Now if your daughter, Courtecuisse, would leave +Auxerre--she's a pretty girl, and if she'd take to piety, she might save +us all. Hey! ran tan plan!--" + +"Why don't _you_ do it?" said Godain to Catherine, in a low voice; +"there'd be scuttles full of money to hush up the talk; and for the time +being you'd be mistress here--" + +"Shall we glean, or shall we not glean? that's the point," said +Bonnebault. "I don't care two straws for your abbe, not I; I belong to +Conches, where we haven't a black-coat to poke up our consciences." + +"Look here," said Vaudoyer, "we had better go and ask Rigou, who knows +the law, whether the Shopman can forbid gleaning, and he'll tell us if +we've got the right of it. If the Shopman has the law on his side, well, +then we must do as the old one says,--see about taking things sideways." + +"Blood will be spilt," said Nicolas, darkly, as he rose after drinking a +whole bottle of wine, which Catherine drew for him in order to keep +him silent. "If you'd only listen to me you'd down Michaud; but you are +miserable weaklings,--nothing but poor trash!" + +"I'm not," said Bonnebault. "If you are all safe friends who'll keep +your tongues between your teeth, I'll aim at the Shopman--Hey! how I'd +like to put a plum through his bottle; wouldn't it avenge me on those +cursed officers?" + +"Tut! tut!" cried Jean-Louis Tonsard, who was supposed to be, more or +less, Gaubertin's son, and who had just entered the tavern. This fellow, +who was courting Rigou's pretty servant-girl, had succeeded his nominal +father as clipper of hedges and shrubberies and other Tonsardial +occupations. Going about among the well-to-do houses, he talked with +masters and servants and picked up ideas which made him the man of the +world of the family, the shrewd head. We shall presently see that in +making love to Rigou's servant-girl, Jean-Louis deserved his reputation +for shrewdness. + +"Well, what have you to say, prophet?" said the innkeeper to his son. + +"I say that you are playing into the hands of the rich folk," replied +Jean-Louis. "Frighten the Aigues people to maintain your rights if you +choose; but if you drive them out of the place and make them sell the +estate, you are doing just what the bourgeois of the valley want, and +it's against your own interest. If you help the bourgeois to divide the +great estates among them, where's the national domain to be bought for +nothing at the next Revolution? Wait till then, and you'll get your land +without paying for it, as Rigou got his; whereas if you go and thrust +this estate into the jaws of the rich folk of the valley, the rich folk +will dribble it back to you impoverished and at twice the price they +paid for it. You are working for their interests, I tell you; so does +everybody who works for Rigou,--look at Courtecuisse." + +The policy contained in this allocution was too deep for the drunken +heads of those present, who were all, except Courtecuisse, laying by +their money to buy a slice of the Aigues cake. So they let Jean-Louis +harangue, and continued, as in the Chamber of Deputies, their private +confabs with one another. + +"Yes, that's so; you'll be Rigou's cats-paw!" cried Fourchon, who alone +understood his grandson. + +Just then Langlume, the miller of Les Aigues, passed the tavern. Madame +Tonsard hailed him. + +"Is it true," she said, "that gleaning is to be forbidden?" + +Langlume, a jovial white man, white with flour and dressed in +grayish-white clothes, came up the steps and looked in. Instantly all +the peasants became as sober as judges. + +"Well, my children, I am forced to answer yes, and no. None but the poor +are to glean; but the measures they are going to take will turn out to +your advantage." + +"How so?" asked Godain. + +"Why, they can prevent any but paupers from gleaning here," said the +miller, winking in true Norman fashion; "but that doesn't prevent you +from gleaning elsewhere,--unless all the mayors do as the Blangy mayor +is doing." + +"Then it is true," said Tonsard, in a threatening voice. + +"As for me," said Bonnebault, putting his foraging-cap over one ear and +making his hazel stick whiz in the air, "I'm off to Conches to warn the +friends." + +And the Lovelace of the valley departed, whistling the tune of the +martial song,-- + + "You who know the hussars of the Guard, + Don't you know the trombone of the regiment?" + +"I say, Marie! he's going a queer way to get to Conches, that friend of +yours," cried old Mother Tonsard to her granddaughter. + +"He's after Aglae!" said Marie, who made one bound to the door. "I'll +have to thrash her once for all, that baggage!" she cried, viciously. + +"Come, Vaudoyer," said Tonsard, "go and see Rigou, and then we +shall know what to do; he's our oracle, and his spittle doesn't cost +anything." + +"Another folly!" said Jean-Louis, in a low voice, "Rigou betrays +everybody; Annette tells me so; she says he's more dangerous when he +listens to you than other folks are when they bluster." + +"I advise you to be cautious," said Langlume. "The general has gone to +the prefecture about your misdeeds, and Sibilet tells me he has sworn +an oath to go to Paris and see the Chancellor of France and the King +himself, and the whole pack of them if necessary, to get the better of +his peasantry." + +"His peasantry!" shouted every one. + +"Ha, ha! so we don't belong to ourselves any longer?" + +As Tonsard asked the question, Vaudoyer left the house to see Rigou. + +Langlume, who had already gone out, turned on the door-step, and +answered:-- + +"Crowd of do-nothings! are you so rich that you think you are your own +masters?" + +Though said with a laugh, the meaning contained in those words was +understood by all present, as horses understand the cut of a whip. + +"Ran tan plan! masters indeed!" shouted old Fourchon. "I say, my lad," +he added to Nicolas, "after your performance this morning it's not my +clarionet that you'll get between your thumb and four fingers!" + +"Don't plague him, or he'll make you throw up your wine by a punch in +the stomach," said Catherine, roughly. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. A TYPE OF THE COUNTRY USURER + + +Strategically, Rigou's position at Blangy was that of a picket sentinel. +He watched Les Aigues, and watched it well. The police have no spies +comparable to those that serve hatred. + +When the general first came to Les Aigues Rigou apparently formed some +plans about him which Montcornet's marriage with a Troisville put an end +to; he seemed to have wished to patronize the new land-owner. In fact +his intentions were so patent that Gaubertin thought best to let him +into the secrets of the coalition against Les Aigues. Before accepting +any part in the affair, Rigou determined, as he said, to put the general +between two stools. + +One day, after the countess was fairly installed, a little wicker +carriage painted green entered the grand courtyard of the chateau. The +mayor, who was flanked by his mayoress, got out and came round to the +portico on the garden side. As he did so Rigou saw Madame le comtesse at +a window. She, however, devoted to the bishop and to religion and to the +Abbe Brossette, sent word by Francois that "Madame was out." + +This act of incivility, worthy of a woman born in Russia, turned the +face of the ex-Benedictine yellow. If the countess had seen the man whom +the abbe told her was "a soul in hell who plunged into iniquity as into +a bath in his efforts to cool himself," if she had seen his face then +she might have refrained from exciting the cold, deliberate hatred +felt by the liberals against the royalists, increased as it was +in country-places by the jealousies of neighborhood, where the +recollections of wounded vanity are kept constantly alive. + +A few details about this man and his morals will not only throw light on +his share of the plot, called "the great affair" by his two associates, +but it will have the merit of picturing an extremely curious type of +man,--one of those rural existences which are peculiar to France, and +which no writer has hitherto sought to depict. Nothing about this man is +without significance,--neither his house, nor his manner of blowing +the fire, nor his ways of eating; his habits, morals, and opinions will +vividly illustrate the history of the valley. This renegade serves +to show the utility of democracy; he is at once its theory and its +practice, its alpha and its omega, in short, its "summum." + +Perhaps you will remember certain masters of avarice pictured in former +scenes of this comedy of human life: in the first place the provincial +minister, Pere Grandet of Saumur, miserly as a tiger is cruel; next +Gobseck, the usurer, that Jesuit of gold, delighting only in its power, +and relishing the tears of the unfortunate because gold produced them; +then Baron Nucingen, lifting base and fraudulent money transactions to +the level of State policy. Then, too, you may remember that portrait +of domestic parsimony, old Hochon of Issoudun, and that other miser in +behalf of family interests, little la Baudraye of Sancerre. Well, human +emotions--above all, those of avarice--take on so many and diverse +shades in the diverse centres of social existence that there still +remains upon the stage of our comedy another miser to be studied, +namely, Rigou,--Rigou, the miser-egoist; full of tenderness for his own +gratifications, cold and hard to others; the ecclesiastical miser; the +monk still a monk so far as he can squeeze the juice of the fruit called +good-living, and becoming secular only to put a paw upon the public +money. In the first place, let us explain the continual pleasure that he +took in sleeping under his own roof. + +Blangy--by that we mean the sixty houses described by Blondet in his +letter to Nathan--stands on a rise of land to the left of the Thune. As +all the houses are surrounded by gardens, the village is a very pretty +one. Some houses are built on the banks of the stream. At the upper end +of the long rise stands the church, formerly flanked by a parsonage, +its apse surrounded, as in many other villages, by a graveyard. The +sacrilegious old Rigou had bought the parsonage, which was originally +built by an excellent Catholic, Mademoiselle Choin, on land which she +had bought for the purpose. A terraced garden, from which the eye looked +down upon Blangy, Cerneux, and Soulanges standing between the two great +seignorial parks, separated the late parsonage from the church. On its +opposite side lay a meadow, bought by the last curate of the parish not +long before his death, which the distrustful Rigou had since surrounded +with a wall. + +The ex-monk and mayor having refused to sell back the parsonage for its +original purpose, the parish was obliged to buy a house belonging to +a peasant, which adjoined the church. It was necessary to spend five +thousand francs to repair and enlarge it and to enclose it in a +little garden, one wall of which was that of the sacristy, so that +communication between the parsonage and the church was still as close as +it ever was. + +These two houses, built on a line with the church, and seeming to belong +to it by their gardens, faced a piece of open ground planted by trees, +which might be called the square of Blangy,--all the more because +the count had lately built, directly opposite to the new parsonage, +a communal building intended for the mayor's office, the home of the +field-keeper, and the quarters of that school of the Brothers of the +Christian Doctrine, for which the Abbe Brossette had hitherto begged in +vain. Thus, not only were the houses of the ex-monk and the young priest +connected and yet separated by the church, but they were in a position +to watch each other. Indeed, the whole village spied upon the abbe. The +main street, which began at the Thune, crept tortuously up the hill to +the church. Vineyards, the cottages of the peasantry, and a small grove +crowned the heights. + +Rigou's house, the handsomest in the village, was built of the large +rubble-stone peculiar to Burgundy, imbedded in yellow mortar smoothed by +the trowel, which produced an uneven surface, still further broken here +and there by projecting points of the stone, which was mostly black. A +band of cement, in which no stones were allowed to show, surrounded each +window with a sort of frame, where time had made some slight, capricious +cracks, such as appear on plastered ceilings. The outer blinds, of a +clumsy pattern, were noticeable for their color, which was dragon-green. +A few mosses grew among the slates of the roof. The type is that of +Burgundian homesteads; the traveller will see thousands like it when +visiting this part of France. + +A double door opened upon a passage, half-way down which was the well of +the staircase. By the entrance was the door of a large room with three +windows looking out upon the square. The kitchen, built behind and +beneath the staircase, was lighted from the courtyard, which was neatly +paved with cobble-stones and entered by a porte-cochere. Such was the +ground-floor. The first floor contained three bedrooms, above them a +small attic chamber. + +A wood-shed, a coach-house, and a stable adjoined the kitchen, and +formed two sides of a square around the courtyard. Above these rather +flimsy buildings were lofts containing hay and grain, a fruit-room, and +one servant's-chamber. + +A poultry-yard, the stable, and a pigsty faced the house across the +courtyard. + +The garden, about an acre in size and enclosed by walls, was a true +priest's garden; that is, it was full of wall-fruit and fruit-trees, +grape-arbors, gravel-paths, closely trimmed box-trees, and square +vegetable patches, made rich with the manure from the stable. + +Within, the large room, panelled in wainscot, was hung with old +tapestry. The walnut furniture, brown with age and covered with stuffs +embroidered in needle-work, was in keeping with the wainscot and with +the ceiling, which was also panelled. The latter had three projecting +beams, but these were painted, and between them the space was plastered. +The mantel, also in walnut, surmounted by a mirror in the most grotesque +frame, had no other ornament than two brass eggs standing on a marble +base, each of which opened in the middle; the upper half when turned +over showed a socket for a candle. These candlesticks for two lights, +festooned with chains (an invention of the reign of Louis XV.), were +becoming rare. On a green and gold bracket fastened to the wall opposite +to the window was a common but excellent clock. The curtains, which +squeaked upon their rods, were at least fifty years old; their material, +of cotton in a square pattern like that of mattresses, alternately pink +and white, came from the Indies. A sideboard and dinner-table completed +the equipment of the room, which was kept with extreme nicety. + +At the corner of the fireplace was an immense sofa, Rigou's especial +seat. In the angle, above a little "bonheur du jour," which served him +as a desk, and hanging to a common screw, was a pair of bellows, the +origin of Rigou's fortune. + +From this succinct description, in style like that of an auction sale, +it will be easy to imagine that the bedrooms of Monsieur and Madame +Rigou were limited to mere necessaries; yet it would be a mistake to +suppose that such parsimony affected the essential excellence of those +necessaries. For instance, the most fastidious of women would have slept +well in Rigou's bed, with fine linen sheets, excellent mattresses, made +luxurious by a feather-bed (doubtless bought for some abbe by a pious +female parishioner) and protected from draughts by thick curtains. All +the rest of Rigou's belongings were made comfortable for his use, as we +shall see. + +In the first place, he had reduced his wife, who could neither read, +write, nor cipher, to absolute obedience. After having ruled her +deceased master, the poor creature was now the servant of her husband; +she cooked and did the washing, with very little help from a pretty girl +named Annette, who was nineteen years old and as much a slave to Rigou +as her mistress, and whose wages were thirty francs a year. + +Tall, thin, and withered, Madame Rigou, a woman with a yellow face +red about the cheek-bones, her head always wrapped in a colored +handkerchief, and wearing the same dress all the year round, did not +leave the house for two hours in a month's time, but kept herself +in exercise by doing the hard work of a devoted servant. The keenest +observer could not have found a trace of the fine figure, the Rubens +coloring, the splendid lines, the superb teeth, the virginal eyes which +first drew the attention of the Abbe Niseron to the young girl. The +birth of her only daughter, Madame Soudry, Jr., had blighted her +complexion, decayed her teeth, dimmed her eyes, and even caused the +dropping of their lashes. It almost seemed as if the finger of God +had fallen upon the wife of the priest. Like all well-to-do country +house-wives, she liked to see her closets full of silk gowns, made and +unmade, and jewels and laces which did her no good and only excited the +sin of envy and a desire for her death in the minds of all the young +women who served Rigou. She was one of those beings, half-woman, +half-animal, who are born to live by instinct. This ex-beautiful Arsene +was disinterested; and the bequest left to her by the late Abbe Niseron +would be inexplicable were it not for the curious circumstance which +prompted it, and which we give here for the edification of the vast +tribe of expectant heirs. + +Madame Niseron, the wife of the old republican sexton, always paid the +greatest attention to her husband's uncle, the priest of Blangy; the +forty or fifty thousand francs soon to be inherited from the old man +of seventy would put the family of his only nephew into a condition of +affluence which she impatiently awaited, for besides her only son (the +father of La Pechina) Madame Niseron had a charming little daughter, +lively and innocent,--one of those beings that seem perfected only +because they are to die, which she did at the age of fourteen from "pale +color," the popular name for chlorosis among the peasantry. The darling +of the parsonage, where the child fluttered about her great uncle the +abbe as she did in her home, bringing clouds and sunshine with her, she +grew to love Mademoiselle Arsene, the pretty servant whom the old abbe +engaged in 1789. Arsene was the niece of his housekeeper, whose place +the girl took by request of the latter on her deathbed. + +In 1791, just about the time that the Abbe Niseron offered his house as +an asylum to Rigou and his brother Jean, the little girl played one of +her mischievous but innocent tricks. She was playing with Arsene and +some other children at a game which consists in hiding an object which +the rest seek, and crying out, "You burn!" or "You freeze!" according +as the searchers approach or leave the hidden article. Little Genevieve +took it into her head to hide the bellows in Arsene's bed. The bellows +could not be found, and the game came to an end; Genevieve was taken +home by her mother and forgot to put the bellows back on the nail. +Arsene and her aunt searched more than a week for them; then they +stopped searching and managed to do without them, the old abbe blowing +his fire with an air-cane made in the days when air-canes were the +fashion,--a fashion which was no doubt introduced by some courtier of +the reign of Henri III. At last, about a month before her death, the +housekeeper, after a dinner at which the Abbe Mouchon, the Niseron +family, and the curate of Soulanges were present, returned to her +jeremiades about the loss of the bellows. + +"Why! they've been these two weeks in Arsene's bed!" cried the little +one, with a peal of laughter. "Great lazy thing! if she had taken the +trouble to make her bed she would have found them." + +As it was 1791 everybody laughed; but a dead silence succeeded the +laugh. + +"There is nothing laughable in that," said the housekeeper; "since I +have been ill Arsene sleeps in my room." + +In spite of this explanation the Abbe Niseron looked thunderbolts at +Madame Niseron and his nephew, thinking they were plotting mischief +against him. The housekeeper died. Rigou contrived to work up the +abbe's resentment to such a pitch that he made a will disinheriting +Jean-Francois Niseron in favor of Arsene Pichard. + +In 1823 Rigou, perhaps out of a sense of gratitude, still blew the fire +with an air-cane, and left the bellows hanging to the screw. + +Madame Niseron, idolizing her daughter, did not long survive her. Mother +and child died in 1794. The old abbe, too, was dead, and citizen Rigou +took charge of Arsene's affairs by marrying her. A former convert in +the monastery, attached to Rigou as a dog is to his master, became the +groom, gardener, herdsman, valet, and steward of the sensual Harpagon. +Arsene Rigou, the daughter, married in 1821 without dowry to the +prosecuting-attorney, inheriting something of her mother's rather vulgar +beauty, together with the crafty mind of her father. + +Now about sixty-seven years of age, Rigou had never been ill in his +life, and nothing seemed able to lessen his aggressively good health. +Tall, lean, with brown circles round his eyes, the lids of which were +nearly black, any one who saw him of a morning, when as he dressed he +exposed the wrinkled, red, and granulated skin of his neck, would have +compared him to a condor,--all the more because his long nose, sharp +at the tip, increased the likeness by its sanguineous color. His head, +partly bald, would have frightened phrenologists by the shape of its +skull, which was like an ass's backbone, an indication of despotic +will. His grayish eyes, half-covered by filmy, red-veined lids, were +predestined to aid hypocrisy. Two scanty locks of hair of an undecided +color overhung the large ears, which were long and without rim, a sure +sign of cruelty, but cruelty of the moral nature only, unless where it +means actual insanity. The mouth, very broad, with thin lips, indicated +a sturdy eater and a determined drinker by the drop of its corners, +which turned downward like two commas, from which drooled gravy when he +ate and saliva when he talked. Heliogabalus must have been like this. + +His dress, which never varied, consisted of a long blue surtout with a +military collar, a black cravat, with waistcoat and trousers of black +cloth. His shoes, very thick soled, had iron nails outside, and inside +woollen linings knit by his wife in the winter evenings. Annette and her +mistress also knit the master's stockings. Rigou's name was Gregoire. + +Though this sketch gives some idea of the man's character, no one can +imagine the point to which, in his private and unthwarted life, the +ex-Benedictine had pushed the science of selfishness, good living, and +sensuality. In the first place, he dined alone, waited upon by his wife +and Annette, who themselves dined with Jean in the kitchen, while the +master digested his meal and disposed of his wine as he read "the news." + +In the country the special names of journals are never mentioned; they +are all called by the general name of "the news." + +Rigou's dinner, like his breakfast and supper, was always of choice +delicacies, cooked with the art which distinguishes a priest's +housekeeper from all other cooks. Madame Rigou made the butter herself +twice a week. Cream was a concomitant of many sauces. The vegetables +came at a jump, as it were, from their frames to the saucepan. +Parisians, who are accustomed to eat the fruits of the earth after they +have had a second ripening in the sun of a city, infected by the air of +the streets, fermenting in close shops, and watered from time to time by +the market-women to give them a deceitful freshness, have little idea of +the exquisite flavors of really fresh produce, to which nature has lent +fugitive but powerful charms when eaten as it were alive. + +The butcher of Soulanges brought his best meat under fear of losing +Rigou's custom. The poultry, raised on the premises, was of the finest +quality. + +This system of secret pampering embraced everything in which Rigou was +personally concerned. Though the slippers of the knowing Thelemist were +of stout leather they were lined with lamb's wool. Though his coat was +of rough cloth it did not touch his skin, for his shirt, washed and +ironed at home, was of the finest Frisian linen. His wife, Annette, and +Jean drank the common wine of the country, the wine he reserved from his +own vineyards; but in his private cellar, as well stocked as the cellars +of Belgium, the finest vintages of Burgundy rubbed sides with those +of Bordeaux, Champagne, Roussillon, not to speak of Spanish and Rhine +wines, all bought ten years in advance of use and bottled by Brother +Jean. The liqueurs in that cellar were those of the Isles, and came +originally from Madame Amphoux. Rigou had laid in a supply to last him +the rest of his days, at the national sale of a chateau in Burgundy. + +The ex-monk ate and drank like Louis XIV. (one of the greatest consumers +of food and drink ever known), which reveals the costs of a life that +was more than voluptuous. Careful and very shrewd in managing his secret +prodigalities, he disputed all purchases as only churchmen can dispute. +Instead of taking infinite precautions against being cheated, the sly +monk kept patterns and samples, had the agreements reduced to writing, +and warned those who forwarded his wines or his provisions that if +they fell short of the mark in any way he should refuse to accept their +consignments. + +Jean, who had charge of the fruit-room, was trained to keep fresh the +finest fruits grown in the department; so that Rigou ate pears and +apples and sometimes grapes, at Easter. + +No prophet regarded as a God was ever more blindly obeyed than was Rigou +in his own home. A mere motion of his black eyelashes could plunge his +wife, Annette, and Jean into the deepest anxiety. He held his three +slaves by the multiplicity of their many duties, which were like a chain +in his hands. These poor creatures were under the perpetual yoke of some +ordered duty, with an eye always on them; but they had come to take a +sort of pleasure in accomplishing these tasks, and did not suffer under +them. All three had the comfort and well-being of that one man before +their minds as the sole end and object of all their thoughts. + +Annette was (since 1795) the tenth pretty girl in Rigou's service, +and he expected to go down to his grave with relays of such servants. +Brought to him at sixteen, she would be sent away at nineteen. All these +girls, carefully chosen at Auxerre, Clamecy, or in the Morvan, were +enticed by the promise of future prosperity; but Madame Rigou persisted +in living. So at the end of every three years some quarrel, usually +brought about by the insolence of the servant to the poor mistress, +caused their dismissal. + +Annette, who was a picture of delicate beauty, ingenuous and sparkling, +deserved to be a duchess. Rigou knew nothing of the love affair between +her and Jean-Louis Tonsard, which proves that he had let himself be +fooled by the girl,--the only one of his many servants whose ambition +had taught her to flatter the lynx as the only way to blind him. + +This uncrowned Louis XV. did not keep himself wholly to his pretty +Annette. Being the mortgagee of lands bought by peasants who were unable +to pay for them, he kept a harem in the valley, from Soulanges to +five miles beyond Conches on the road to La Brie, without making other +payments than "extension of time," for those fugitive pleasures which +eat into the fortunes of so many old men. + +This luxurious life, a life like that of Bouret, cost Rigou almost +nothing. Thanks to his white slaves, he could cut and mow down and +gather in his wood, hay, and grain. To the peasant manual labor is +a small matter, especially if it serves to postpone the payment of +interest due. And so Rigou, while requiring little premiums on each +month's delay, squeezed a great deal of manual labor out of his +debtors,--positive drudgery, to which they submitted thinking they gave +little because nothing left their pockets. Rigou sometimes obtained in +this way more than the principal of a debt. + +Deep as a monk, silent as a Benedictine in the throes of writing +history, sly as a priest, deceitful as all misers, carefully keeping +within the limits of the law, the man might have been Tiberius in Rome, +Richelieu under Louis XIII., or Fouche, had the ambition seized him to +go to the Convention; but, instead of all that, Rigou had the common +sense to remain a Lucullus without ostentation, in other words, a +parsimonious voluptuary. To occupy his mind he indulged a hatred +manufactured out of the whole cloth. He harassed the Comte de +Montcornet. He worked the peasants like puppets by hidden wires, the +handling of which amused him as though it were a game of chess where +the pawns were alive, the knights caracoled, the bishops, like Fourchon, +gabbled, the feudal castles shone in the sun, and the queen maliciously +checkmated the king. Every day, when he got out of bed and saw from his +window the proud towers of Les Aigues, the chimneys of the pavilions, +and the noble gates, he said to himself: "They shall fall! I'll dry up +the brooks, I'll chop down the woods." But he had two victims in mind, a +chief one and a lesser one. Though he meditated the dismemberment of the +chateau, the apostate also intended to make an end of the Abbe Brossette +by pin-pricks. + +To complete the portrait of the ex-priest it will suffice to add that +he went to mass regretting that his wife still lived, and expressed the +desire to be reconciled with the Church as soon as he became a widower. +He bowed deferentially to the Abbe Brossette whenever he met him, and +spoke to him courteously and without heat. As a general thing all men +who belong to the Church, or who have come out of it, have the patience +of insects; they owe this to the obligation they have been under, +ecclesiastically, to preserve decorum,--a training which has been +lacking for the last twenty years to the vast majority of the French +nation, even those who think themselves well-bred. All the monks +which the Revolution brought out of their monasteries and forced into +business, public or private, showed in their coldness and reserve the +great advantage which ecclesiastical discipline gives to the sons of the +Church, even those who desert her. + +Gaubertin had understood Rigou from the days when the Abbe Niseron made +his will and the ex-monk married the heiress; he fathomed the craft +hidden behind the jaundiced face of that accomplished hypocrite; and he +made himself the man's fellow-worshipper before the altar of the Golden +Calf. When the banking-house of Leclercq was first started he advised +Rigou to put fifty thousand francs into it, guaranteeing their security +himself. Rigou was all the more desirable as an investor, or sleeping +partner, because he drew no interest but allowed his capital to +accumulate. At the period of which we write it amounted to over a +hundred thousand francs, although in 1816 he had taken out one hundred +and eighty thousand for investment in the Public Funds, from which he +derived an income of seventeen thousand francs. Lupin the notary had +cognizance of at least one hundred thousand francs which Rigou had lent +on small mortgages upon good estates. Ostensibly, Rigou derived about +fourteen thousand francs a year from landed property actually owned by +him. But as to his amassed hoard, it was represented by an "x" which no +rule of equations could evolve, just as the devil alone knew the secret +schemes he plotted with Langlume. + +This dangerous usurer, who proposed to live a score of years longer, had +established fixed rules to work upon. He lent nothing to a peasant who +bought less than seven acres, and who could not pay one-half of the +purchase-money down. Rigou well understood the defects of the law of +dispossession when applied to small holdings, and the danger both to the +Public Treasury and to land-owners of the minute parcelling out of the +soil. How can you sue a peasant for the value of one row of vines +when he owns only five? The bird's-eye view of self-interest is always +twenty-five years ahead of the perceptions of a legislative body. What a +lesson for a nation! Law will ever emanate from one brain, that of a man +of genius, and not from the nine hundred legislative heads, which, great +as they may be in themselves, are belittled and lost in a crowd. +Rigou's law contains the essential element which has yet to be found +and introduced into public law to put an end to the absurd spectacle of +landed property reduced to halves, quarters, tenths, hundredths,--as +in the district of Argenteuil, where there are thirty thousand plots of +land. + +Such operations as those Rigou was concerned in require extensive +collusion, like those we have seen existing in this arrondissement. +Lupin, the notary, whom Rigou employed to draw at least one third of +the deeds annually entrusted to his notarial office, was devoted to him. +This shark could thus include in the mortgage note (signed always in +presence of the wife, when the borrower was married) the amount of the +illegal interest. The peasant, delighted to feel he had to pay only his +five per cent interest annually, always imagined he should be able to +meet the payment by working doubly hard or by improving the land and +getting double returns upon it. + +Hence the deceitful hopes excited by what imbecile economists call +"small farming,"--a political blunder to which we owe such mistakes as +sending French money to Germany to buy horses which our own land had +ceased to breed; a blunder which before long will reduce the raising of +cattle until meat will be unattainable not only by the people, but by +the lower middle classes (see "Le Cure de Village.") + +So, not a little sweat bedewed men's brows between Conches and +Ville-aux-Fayes to Rigou's profit, all being willing to give it; whereas +the labor dearly paid for by the general, the only man who did spend +money in the district, brought him curses and hatred, which were +showered upon him simply because he was rich. How could such facts +be understood unless we had previously taken that rapid glance at the +Mediocracy. Fourchon was right; the middle classes now held the position +of the former lords. The small land-owners, of whom Courtecuisse is +a type, were tenants in mortmain of a Tiberius in the valley of the +Avonne, just as, in Paris, traders without money are the peasantry of +the banking system. + +Soudry followed Rigou's example from Soulanges to a distance of fifteen +miles beyond Ville-aux-Fayes. These two usurers shared the district +between them. + +Gaubertin, whose rapacity was in a higher sphere, not only did not +compete against that of his associates, but he prevented all other +capital in Ville-aux-Fayes from being employed in the same +fruitful manner. It is easy to imagine what immense influence this +triumvirate--Rigou, Soudry, and Gaubertin--wielded in election periods +over electors whose fortunes depended on their good-will. + +Hate, intelligence, and means at command, such were the three sides of +the terrible triangle which describes the general's closest enemy, the +spy ever watching Les Aigues,--a shark having constant dealings with +sixty to eighty small land-owners, relations or connections of the +peasantry, who feared him as such men always fear their creditor. + +Rigou was in his way another Tonsard. The one throve on thefts from +nature, the other waxed fat on legal plunder. Both liked to live well. +It was the same nature in two species,--the one natural, the other +whetted by his training in a cloister. + +It was about four o'clock when Vaudoyer left the tavern of the +Grand-I-Vert to consult the former mayor. Rigou was at dinner. Finding +the front door locked, Vaudoyer looked above the window blinds and +called out:-- + +"Monsieur Rigou, it is I,--Vaudoyer." + +Jean came round from the porte-cochere and said to Vaudoyer:-- + +"Come into the garden; Monsieur has company." + +The company was Sibilet, who, under pretext of discussing the verdict +Brunet had just handed in, was talking to Rigou of quite other matters. +He had found the usurer finishing his dessert. On a square dinner-table +covered with a dazzling white cloth--for, regardless of his wife and +Annette who did the washing, Rigou exacted clean table-linen every +day--the steward noted strawberries, apricots, peaches, figs, and +almonds, all the fruits of the season in profusion, served in white +porcelain dishes on vine-leaves as daintily as at Les Aigues. + +Seeing Sibilet, Rigou told him to run the bolts of the inside +double-doors, which were added to the other doors as much to stifle +sounds as to keep out the cold air, and asked him what pressing business +brought him there in broad daylight when it was so much safer to confer +together at night. + +"The Shopman talks of going to Paris to see the Keeper of the Seals; +he is capable of doing you a great deal of harm; he may ask for +the dismissal of your son-in-law, and the removal of the judges at +Ville-aux-Fayes, especially after reading the verdict just rendered in +your favor. He has turned at bay; he is shrewd, and he has an adviser in +that abbe, who is quite able to tilt with you and Gaubertin. Priests +are powerful. Monseigneur the bishop thinks a great deal of the Abbe +Brossette. Madame la comtesse talks of going herself to her cousin the +prefect, the Comte de Casteran, about Nicolas. Michaud begins to see +into our game." + +"You are frightened," said Rigou, softly, casting a look on Sibilet +which suspicion made less impassive than usual, and which was therefore +terrific. "You are debating whether it would not be better on the whole +to side with the Comte de Montcornet." + +"I don't see where I am to get the four thousand francs I save honestly +and invest every year, after you have cut up and sold Les Aigues," said +Sibilet, shortly. "Monsieur Gaubertin has made me many fine promises; +but the crisis is coming on; there will be fighting, surely. Promising +before victory and keeping a promise after it are two very different +things." + +"I will talk to him about it," replied Rigou, imperturbably. "Meantime +this is what I should say to you if I were in his place: 'For the last +five years you have taken Monsieur Rigou four thousand francs a year, +and that worthy man gives you seven and a half per cent; which makes +your property in his hands at this moment over twenty-seven thousand +francs, as you have not drawn the interest. But there exists a private +signed agreement between you and Rigou, and the Shopman will dismiss his +steward whenever the Abbe Brossette lays that document before his eyes; +the abbe will be able to do so after receiving an anonymous letter which +will inform him of your double-dealing. You would therefore do better +for yourself by keeping well with us instead of clamoring for your pay +in advance,--all the more because Monsieur Rigou, who is not legally +bound to give you seven and a half per cent and the interest on your +interest, will make you in court a legal tender of your twenty thousand +francs, and you will not be able to touch that money until your +suit, prolonged by legal trickery, shall be decided by the court at +Ville-aux-Fayes. But if you act wisely you will find that when Monsieur +Rigou gets possession of your pavilion at Les Aigues, you will have +very nearly thirty thousand francs in his hands and thirty thousand more +which the said Rigou may entrust to you,--which will be all the more +advantageous to you then because the peasantry will have flung them +themselves upon the estate of Les Aigues, divided into small lots like +the poverty of the world.' That's what Monsieur Gaubertin might say to +you. As for me, I have nothing to say, for it is none of my business. +Gaubertin and I have our own quarrel with that son of the people who is +ashamed of his own father, and we follow our own course. If my friend +Gaubertin feels the need of using you, I don't; I need no one, for +everybody is at my command. As to the Keeper of the Seals, that +functionary is often changed; whereas we--WE are always here, and can +bide our time." + +"Well, I've warned you," returned Sibilet, feeling like a donkey under a +pack-saddle. + +"Warned me of what?" said Rigou, artfully. + +"Of what the Shopman is going to do," answered the steward, humbly. "He +started for the Prefecture in a rage." + +"Let him go! If the Montcornets and their kind didn't use wheels, what +would become of the carriage-makers?" + +"I shall bring you three thousand francs to-night," said Sibilet, "but +you ought to make over some of your maturing mortgages to me,--say, one +or two that would secure to me good lots of land." + +"Well, there's that of Courtecuisse. I myself want to be easy on him +because he is the best shot in the canton; but if I make over his +mortgage to you, you will seem to be harassing him on the Shopman's +account, and that will be killing two birds with one stone; when +Courtecuisse finds himself a beggar, like Fourchon, he'll be capable +of anything. Courtecuisse has ruined himself on the Bachelerie; he has +cultivated all the land, and trained fruit on the walls. The little +property is now worth four thousand francs, and the count will gladly +pay you that to get possession of the three acres that jut right into +his land. If Courtecuisse were not such an idle hound he could have paid +his interest with the game he might have killed there." + +"Well, transfer the mortgage to me, and I'll make my butter out of +it; the count shall buy the three acres, and I shall get the house and +garden for nothing." + +"What are you going to give me out of it?" + +"Good heavens! you'd milk an ox!" exclaimed Sibilet,--"when I have just +done you such a service, too. I have at last got the Shopman to enforce +the laws about gleaning--" + +"Have you, my dear fellow?" said Rigou, who a few days earlier had +suggested this means of exasperating the peasantry to Sibilet, telling +him to advise the general to try it. "Then we've got him; he's lost! But +it isn't enough to hold him with one string; we must wind it round and +round him like a roll of tobacco. Slip the bolts of the door, my lad; +tell my wife to bring my coffee and the liqueurs, and tell Jean to +harness up. I'm off to Soulanges; will see you to-night!--Ah! Vaudoyer, +good afternoon," said the late mayor as his former field-keeper entered +the room. "What's the news?" + +Vaudoyer related the talk which had just taken place at the tavern, and +asked Rigou's opinion as to the legality of the rules which the general +thought of enforcing. + +"He has the law with him," said Rigou, curtly. "We have a hard landlord; +the Abbe Brossette is a malignant priest; he advises all such measures +because you don't go to mass, you miserable unbelievers. I go; there's +a God, I tell you. You peasants will have to bear everything, for the +Shopman will always get the better of you--" + +"We shall glean," said Vaudoyer, in that determined tone which +characterizes Burgundians. + +"Without a certificate of pauperism?" asked the usurer. "They say the +Shopman has gone to the Prefecture to ask for troops so as to force you +to keep the law." + +"We shall glean as we have always gleaned," repeated Vaudoyer. + +"Well, glean then! Monsieur Sarcus will decide whether you have the +right to," said Rigou, seeming to promise the help of the justice of the +peace. + +"We shall glean, and we shall do it in force, or Burgundy won't be +Burgundy any longer," said Vaudoyer. "If the gendarmes have sabres we +have scythes, and we'll see what comes of it!" + +At half-past four o'clock the great green gate of the former parsonage +turned on its hinges, and the bay horse, led by Jean, was brought round +to the front door. Madame Rigou and Annette came out on the steps and +looked at the little wicker carriage, painted green, with a leathern +hood, where their lord and master was comfortably seated on good +cushions. + +"Don't be late home, monsieur," said Annette, with a little pout. + +The village folk, already informed of the measures the general proposed +to take, were at their doors or standing in the main street as Rigou +drove by, believing that he was going to Soulanges in their defence. + +"Well, Madame Courtecuisse, so our mayor is on his way to protect us," +remarked an old woman as she knitted; the question of depredating in +the forest was of great interest to her, for her husband sold the stolen +wood at Soulanges. + +"Ah! the good man, his heart bleeds to see the way we are treated; he is +as unhappy as we are about it," replied the poor woman, who trembled at +the very name of her husband's creditor, and praised him out of fear. + +"And he himself, too,--they've shamefully ill-used him! Good-day, +Monsieur Rigou," said the old knitter to the usurer, who bowed to her +and to his debtor's wife. + +As Rigou crossed the Thune, fordable at all seasons, Tonsard came out of +the tavern and met him on the high-road. + +"Well, Pere Rigou," he said, "so the Shopman means to make dogs of us?" + +"We'll see about that," said the usurer, whipping up his horse. + +"He'll protect us," said Tonsard, turning to a group of women and +children who were near him. + +"Rigou is thinking as much about you as a cook thinks of the gudgeons he +is frying in his pan," called out Fourchon. + +"Take the clapper out of your throat when you are drunk," said Mouche, +pulling his grandfather by the blouse, and tumbling him down on a bank +under a poplar tree. "If that hound of a mayor heard you say that, he'd +never buy any more of your tales." + +The truth was that Rigou was hurrying to Soulanges in consequence of the +warning given him by the steward of Les Aigues, which, in his heart, he +regarded as threatening the secret coalition of the valley. + + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE LEADING SOCIETY OF SOULANGES + + +About six kilometres (speaking legally) from Blangy, and at the same +distance from Ville-aux-Fayes, on an elevation radiating from the long +hillside at the foot of which flows the Avonne, stands the little town +of Soulanges, surnamed La Jolie, with, perhaps, more right to that title +than Mantes. + +At the foot of the hill, the Thune broadens over a clay bottom to a +space of some seventy acres, at the end of which the Soulanges mills, +placed on numerous little islets, present as graceful a group of +buildings as any landscape architect could devise. After watering the +park of Soulanges, where it feeds various other streams and artificial +lakes, the Thune falls into the Avonne through a fine broad channel. + +The chateau of Soulanges, rebuilt under Louis XIV. from designs of Jules +Mansart, and one of the finest in Burgundy, stands facing the town; so +that Soulanges and its chateau mutually present to each other a charming +and even elegant vista. The main road winds between the town and the +pond, called by the country people, rather pompously, the lake of +Soulanges. + +The little town is one of those natural compositions which are extremely +rare in France, where _prettiness_ of its own kind is absolutely +wanting. Here you would indeed find, as Blondet said in his letter, the +charm of Switzerland, the prettiness of the environs of Neuf-chatel; +while the bright vineyards which encircle Soulanges complete the +resemblance,--leaving out, be it said, the Alps and the Jura. The +streets, placed one above another on the slope of the hill, have but few +houses; for each house stands in its own garden, which produces a mass +of greenery rarely seen in a town. The roofs, red or blue, rising among +flower-gardens, trees, and trellised terraces, present an harmonious +variety of aspects. + +The church, an old Middle-Age structure, built of stone, thanks to the +munificence of the lords of Soulanges, who reserved for themselves first +a chapel near the chancel, then a crypt as their necropolis, has, by way +of portal, an immense arcade, like that of the church at Lonjumeau, and +is bordered by flower-beds adorned with statues, and flanked on either +side by columns with niches, which terminate in spires. This portal, +often seen in churches of the same period when chance has saved them +from the ravages of Calvinism, is surmounted by a triglyph, above which +stands a statue of the Virgin holding the infant Jesus. The sides of +the structure are externally of five arches, defined by stone ribs and +lighted by windows with small panes. The apse rests on arched abutments +that are worthy of a cathedral. The clock-tower, placed in a transept of +the cross, is square and surmounted by a belfry. The church can be seen +from a great distance, for it stands at the top of the great square, at +the lower end of which the high-road passes through the town. + +This square, large for the size of the town, is surrounded by +very original buildings, all of different epochs. Many, half-wood, +half-brick, with their timbers faced with slate, date back to the Middle +Ages. Others, of stone, with balconies, show the form of gable so dear +to our ancestors, which belongs to the twelfth century. Several charm +the eye with those old projecting beams, carved with grotesque faces, +which form the roof of a sort of shed, and recall the days when the +middle classes were exclusively commercial. The finest house among +them was that of the chief magistrate of former days,--a house with a +sculptured front on a line with the church, to which it forms a fine +accompaniment. Sold as national property, it was bought in by the +commune, which turned it into a town-hall and court-house, where +Monsieur Sarcus had presided ever since the establishment of municipal +judges. + +This slight sketch will give an idea of the square of Soulanges, adorned +in the centre with a charming fountain brought from Italy in 1520 by +the Marechal de Soulanges, which was not unworthy of a great capital. +An unfailing jet of water, coming from a spring higher up the hill, was +shed by four Cupids in white marble, bearing shells in their arms and +baskets of grapes upon their heads. + +Literary travellers who may pass this way (should any such follow Emile +Blondet) might imagine the spot to have inspired Moliere and the Spanish +drama, which held its footing so long on French boards, showing that +comedy is native to warm countries where so much of life is passed in +the public streets. The square of Soulanges is all the more a reminder +of that classic stage because the two principal streets, opening just on +a line with the fountain, afford the exit and entrances so necessary for +the dramatic masters and valets whose business it is either to meet or +to avoid each other. At the corner of one of these streets, called the +rue de la Fontaine, shone the notarial escutcheon of Maitre Lupin. The +houses of Messieurs Sarcus, Guerbet the collector, Brunet, Gourdon, +clerk of the court, and that of his brother the doctor, also that of old +Monsieur Gendrin-Vatebled, the keeper of the forests and streams,--all +these houses, kept with extreme neatness by their owners, who held +firmly to the flattering surname of their native town, stand in +the neighborhood of the square and form the aristocratic quarter of +Soulanges. + +The house of Madame Soudry--for the powerful individuality of +Mademoiselle Laguerre's former waiting-maid took the lead of her husband +in the community--was modern, having been built by a rich wine-merchant, +born in Soulanges, who, after making his money in Paris, returned +there in 1793 to buy wheat for his native town. He was slain as an +"accapareur," a monopolist, by the populace, instigated by a mason, the +uncle of Godain, with whom he had had some quarrel about the building of +his ambitious house. The settlement of his estate, sharply contested by +collateral heirs, dragged slowly along until, in 1798, Soudry, who had +then returned to Soulanges, was able to buy the wine-merchant's palace +for three thousand francs in specie. He then let it, in the first +instance, to the government for the headquarters of the gendarmerie. In +1811 Mademoiselle Cochet, whom Soudry consulted about all his affairs, +strongly objected to the renewal of the lease, making the house +uninhabitable, she declared, with barracks. The town of Soulanges, +assisted by the department, then erected a building for the gendarmerie +in a street running at right angles from the town-hall. Thereupon Soudry +cleaned up his house and restored its primitive lustre, not a little +dimmed by the stabling of horses and the occupancy of gendarmes. + +The house, only one story high, with projecting windows in the roof, has +a view on three sides; one to the square, another to a lake, the third +to a garden. The fourth side looks on a courtyard which separates the +Soudrys from the adjoining house occupied by a grocer named Wattebled, +a man of the SECOND-CLASS society of Soulanges, father of the beautiful +Madame Plissoud, of whom we shall presently have occasion to speak. + +All little towns have a renowned beauty, just as they have a Socquard +and a Cafe de la Paix. + +It will be apparent to every one that the frontage of the Soudry mansion +on the lake must have a terraced garden confined by a stone balustrade +which overlooks both the lake and the main road. A flight of steps +leads down from the terrace to the road, and on it an orange-tree, +a pomegranate, a myrtle, and other ornamental shrubs are placed, +necessitating a greenhouse. On the side toward the square the house +is entered from a portico raised several steps above the level of +the street. According to the custom of small towns the gate of the +courtyard, used only for the service of the house or for any unusual +arrival, was seldom opened. Visitors, who mostly came on foot, entered +by the portico. + +The style of the Hotel Soudry is plain. The courses are indicated by +projecting lines; the windows are framed by mouldings alternately broad +and slender, like those of the Gabriel and Perronnet pavilion in the +place Louis XV. These ornaments in so small a town give a certain solid +and monumental air to the building which has become celebrated. + +Opposite to this house, in another angle of the square stands the +famous Cafe de la Paix, the characteristics of which, together with +the fascinations of its Tivoli, will require, somewhat later, a less +succinct description than that we have given of the Soudry mansion. + +Rigou very seldom came to Soulanges; everybody was in the habit of going +to him,--Lupin and Gaubertin, Soudry and Gendrin,--so much were they +afraid of him. But we shall presently understand why any educated man, +such as the ex-Benedictine, would have done as Rigou did, and kept +away from the little town, after reading the following sketch of the +personages who composed what was called in those parts "the leading +society of Soulanges." + +Of its principal figures, the most original, as you have already +suspected, was that of Madame Soudry, whose personality, to be duly +rendered, needs a minute and careful brush. + +Madame Soudry, respectfully imitating Mademoiselle Laguerre, began by +allowing herself a "mere touch of rouge"; but this delicate tint had +changed through force of habit to those vermilion patches picturesquely +described by our ancestors as "carriage-wheels." The wrinkles growing +deeper and deeper, it occurred to the ex-lady's-maid to fill them up +with paint. Her forehead becoming unduly yellow, and the temples too +shiny, she "laid on" a little white, and renewed the veins of her youth +with a tracery of blue. All this color gave an exaggerated liveliness to +her eyes which were already tricksy enough, so that the mask of her face +would seem to a stranger even more than fantastic, though her friends +and acquaintances, accustomed to this fictitious brilliancy, actually +declared her handsome. + +This ungainly creature, always decolletee, showed a bosom and a pair of +shoulders that were whitened and polished by the same process employed +upon her face; happily, for the sake of exhibiting her magnificent +laces, she partially veiled the charms of these chemical products. She +always wore the body of her dress stiffened with whalebone and made in +a long point and garnished with knots of ribbon, even on the point! Her +petticoats gave forth a creaking noise,--so much did the silk and the +furbelows abound. + +This attire, which deserves the name of apparel (a word that before +long will be inexplicable), was, on the evening in question, of costly +brocade,--for Madame Soudry possessed over a hundred dresses, each +richer than the others, the remains of Mademoiselle Laguerre's enormous +and splendid wardrobe, made over to fit Madame Soudry in the last +fashion of the year 1808. Her blond wig, frizzed and powdered, sustained +a superb cap with knots of cherry satin ribbon matching those on her +dress. If you will kindly imagine beneath this ultra-coquettish cap the +face of a monkey of extreme ugliness, on which a flat nose, fleshless as +that of Death, is separated by a strong hairy line from a mouth filled +with false teeth, whence issue sounds like the confused clacking of +hunting-horns, you will have some difficulty in understanding why +the leading society of Soulanges (all the town, in fact) thought +this quasi-queen a beauty,--unless, indeed, you remember the succinct +statement recently made "ex professo," by one of the cleverest women +of our time, on the art of making her sex beautiful by surrounding +accessories. + +As to accessories, in the first place, Madame Soudry was surrounded +by the magnificent gifts accumulated by her late mistress, which the +ex-Benedictine called "fructus belli." Then she made the most of her +ugliness by exaggerating it, and by assuming that indescribable air +and manner which belongs only to Parisian women, the secret of which is +known even to the most vulgar among them,--who are always more or less +mimics. She laced tight, wore an enormous bustle, also diamond earrings, +and her fingers were covered with rings. At the top of her corsage, +between two mounds of flesh well plastered with pearl-white, shone a +beetle made of topaz with a diamond head, the gift of dear mistress,--a +jewel renowned throughout the department. Like the late dear mistress, +she wore short sleeves and bare arms, and flirted an ivory fan, painted +by Boucher with two little rose-diamonds in the handle. + +When she went out Madame Soudry carried a parasol of the true +eighteenth-century style; that is to say, a tall cane at the end of +which opened a green sun-shade with a green fringe. When she walked +about the terrace a stranger on the high-road, seeing her from afar, +might have thought her one of Watteau's dames. + +In her salon, hung with red damask, with curtains of the same lined with +silk, a fire on the hearth, a mantel-shelf adorned with bibelots of the +good time of Louis XV., and bearing candelabra in the form of lilies +upheld by Cupids--in this salon, filled with furniture in gilded wood of +the "pied de biche" pattern, it is not impossible to understand why the +people of Soulanges called the mistress of the house, "The beautiful +Madame Soulanges." The mansion had actually become the civic pride of +this capital of a canton. + +If the leading society of the little town believed in its queen, the +queen as surely believed in herself. By a phenomenon not in the least +rare, which the vanity of mothers and authors carries on at all +moments under our very eyes in behalf of their literary works or their +marriageable daughters, the late Mademoiselle Cochet was, at the end +of seven years, so completely buried under Madame Soudry, the mayoress, +that she not only did not remember her past, but she actually believed +herself a well-bred woman. She had studied the airs and graces, the +dulcet tones, the gestures, the ways of her mistress, so long that when +she found herself in the midst of an opulence of her own she was able to +practice the natural insolence of it. She knew her eighteenth century, +and the tales of its great lords and all their belongings, by heart. +This back-stairs erudition gave to her conversation a flavor of +"oeil-de-boeuf"; her soubrette gossip passed muster for courtly wit. +Morally, the mayoress was, if you wish to say so, tinsel; but to savages +paste diamonds are as good as real ones. + +The woman found herself courted and worshipped by the society in which +she lived, just as her mistress had been worshipped in former days. She +gave weekly dinners, with coffee and liqueurs to those who came in after +the dessert. No female head could have resisted the exhilarating +force of such continual adulation. In winter the warm salon, always +well-lighted with wax candles, was well-filled with the richest people +of Soulanges, who paid for the good liqueurs and the fine wines which +came from dear mistress's cellars, with flatteries to their hostess. +These visitors and their wives had a life-interest, as it were, in this +luxury; which was to them a saving of lights and fuel. Thus it came +to pass that in a circuit of fifteen miles and even as far as +Ville-aux-Fayes, every voice was ready to declare: "Madame Soudry does +the honors admirably. She keeps open house; every one enjoys her salon; +she knows how to carry herself and her fortune; she always says the +witty thing, she makes you laugh. And what splendid silver! There is not +another house like it short of Paris--" + +The silver had been given to Mademoiselle Laguerre by Bouret. It was a +magnificent service made by the famous Germain, and Madame Soudry had +literally stolen it. At Mademoiselle Laguerre's death she merely took it +into her own room, and the heirs, who knew nothing of the value of their +inheritance, never claimed it. + +For some time past the twelve or fifteen personages who composed the +leading society of Soulanges spoke of Madame Soudry as the _intimate +friend_ of Mademoiselle Laguerre, recoiling at the term "waiting-woman," +and making believe that she had sacrificed herself to the singer as her +friend and companion. + +Strange yet true! all these illusions became realities, and spread even +to the actual regions of the heart; Madame Soudry reigned supreme, in a +way, over her husband. + +The gendarme, required to love a woman ten years older than himself who +kept the management of her fortune in her own hands, behaved to her in +the spirit of the ideas she had ended by adopting about her beauty. But +sometimes, when persons envied him or talked to him of his happiness, +he wished they were in his place, for, to hide his peccadilloes, he was +forced to take as many precautions as the husband of a young and adoring +wife; and it was not until very recently that he had been able to +introduce into the family a pretty servant-girl. + +This portrait of the Queen of Soulanges may seem a little grotesque, but +many specimens of the same kind could be found in the provinces at +that period,--some more or less noble in blood, others belonging to the +higher banking-circles, like the widow of a receiver-general in Touraine +who still puts slices of veal upon her cheeks. This portrait, drawn from +nature, would be incomplete without the diamonds in which it is set; +without the surrounding courtiers, a sketch of whom is necessary, if +only to explain how formidable such Lilliputians are, and who are the +makers of public opinion in remote little towns. Let no one mistake me, +however; there are many localities which, like Soulanges, are neither +hamlets, villages, nor little towns, which have, nevertheless, the +characteristics of all. The inhabitants are very different from those +of the large and busy and vicious provincial cities. Country life +influences the manners and morals of the smaller places, and this +mixture of tints will be found to produce some truly original +characters. + +The most important personage after Madame Soudry was Lupin, the notary. +Though forty-five springs had bloomed for Lupin, he was still fresh +and rosy, thanks to the plumpness which fills out the skin of sedentary +persons; and he still sang ballads. Also, he retained the elegant +evening dress of society warblers. He looked almost Parisian in +his carefully-varnished boots, his sulphur-yellow waistcoats, his +tight-fitting coats, his handsome silk cravats, his fashionable +trousers. His hair was curled by the barber of Soulanges (the gossip of +the town), and he maintained the attitude of a man "a bonne fortunes" by +his liaison with Madame Sarcus, wife of Sarcus the rich, who was to his +life, without too close a comparison, what the campaigns of Italy were +to Napoleon. He alone of the leading society of Soulanges went to Paris, +where he was received by the Soulanges family. It was enough to hear him +talk to imagine the supremacy he wielded in his capacity as dandy and +judge of elegance. He passed judgment on all things by the use of three +terms: "out of date," "antiquated," "superannuated."[*] A man, a woman, +or a piece of furniture might be "out of date"; next, by a greater +degree of imperfection, "antiquated"; but as to the last term, it was +the superlative of contempt. The first might be remedied, the second was +hopeless, but the third,--oh, better far never to have left the void of +nothingness! As to praise, a single word sufficed him, doubly and trebly +uttered: "Charming!" was the positive of his admiration. "Charming, +charming!" made you feel you were safe; but after "Charming, charming, +charming!" the ladder might be discarded, for the heaven of perfection +was attained. + + + [*] "Croute," "crouton," and "croute-au-pot," + untranslatable, and without equivalent in English. A + "croute" is the slang term for a man behind the age.--Tr. + + +The tabellion,--he called himself "tabellion," petty notary, and keeper +of notes (making fun of his calling in order to seem above it),--the +tabellion was on terms of spoken gallantry with Madame Soudry, who had +a weakness for Lupin, though he was blond and wore spectacles. Hitherto +the late Cochet had loved none but dark men, with moustachios and hairy +hands, of the Alcides type. But she made an exception in favor of Lupin +on account of his elegance, and, moreover, because she thought her +glory at Soulanges was not complete without an adorer; but, to Soudry's +despair, the queen's adorers never carried their adoration so far as to +threaten his rights. + +Lupin had married an heiress in wooden shoes and blue woollen stockings, +the only daughter of a salt-dealer, who made his money during the +Revolution,--a period when contraband salt-traders made enormous profits +by reason of the reaction that set in against the gabelle. He prudently +left his wife at home, where Bebelle, as he called her, was supported +under his absence by a platonic passion for a handsome clerk who had no +other means than his salary,--a young man named Bonnac, belonging to the +second-class society, where he played the same role that his master, the +notary, played in the first. + +Madame Lupin, a woman without any education whatever, appeared on great +occasions only, under the form of an enormous Burgundian barrel dressed +in velvet and surmounted by a little head sunken in shoulders of a +questionable color. No efforts could retain her waist-belt in its +natural place. "Bebelle" candidly admitted that prudence forbade her +wearing corsets. The imagination of a poet or, better still, that of an +inventor, could not have found on Bebelle's back the slightest trace of +that seductive sinuosity which the vertebrae of all women who are women +usually produce. Bebelle, round as a tortoise, belonged to the genus of +invertebrate females. This alarming development of cellular tissue no +doubt reassured Lupin on the subject of the platonic passion of his fat +wife, whom he boldly called Bebelle without raising a laugh. + +"Your wife, what is she?" said Sarcus the rich, one day, when unable to +digest the fatal word "superannuated," applied to a piece of furniture +he had just bought at a bargain. + +"My wife is not like yours," replied Lupin; "she is not defined as yet." + +Beneath his rosy exterior the notary possessed a subtle mind, and he had +the sense to say nothing about his property, which was fully as large as +that of Rigou. + +Monsieur Lupin's son, Amaury, was a great trouble to his father. An +only son, and one of the Don Juans of the valley, he utterly refused +to follow the paternal profession. He took advantage of his position as +only son to bleed the strong-box cruelly, without, however, exhausting +the patience of his father, who would say after every escapade, "Well, +I was like that in my young days." Amaury never came to Madame Soudry's; +he said she bored him; for, with a recollection of her early days, she +attempted to "educate" him, as she called it, whereas he much preferred +the pleasures and billiards of the Cafe de la Paix. He frequented the +worst company of Soulanges, even down to Bonnebault. He continued +sowing his wild oats, as Madame Soudry remarked, and replied to all +his father's remonstrances with one perpetual request: "Send me back to +Paris, for I am bored to death here." + +Lupin ended, alas! like other gallants, by an attachment that was +semi-conjugal. His known passion, in spite of his former liaison with +Madame Sarcus, was for the wife of the under-sheriff of the municipal +court,--Madame Euphemie Plissoud, daughter of Wattebled the grocer, who +reigned in the second-class society as Madame Soudry did in the first. +Monsieur Plissoud, a competitor of Brunet, belonged to the under-world +of Soulanges on account of his wife's conduct, which it was said he +authorized,--a report that drew upon him the contempt of the leading +society. + +If Lupin was the musician of the leading society, Monsieur Gourdon, the +doctor, was its man of science. The town said of him, "We have here +in our midst a scientific man of the first order." Madame Soudry (who +believed she understood music because she had ushered in Piccini and +Gluck and had dressed Mademoiselle Laguerre for the Opera) persuaded +society, and even Lupin himself, that he might have made his fortune +by his voice, and, in like manner, she was always regretting that the +doctor did not publish his scientific ideas. + +Monsieur Gourdon merely repeated the ideas of Cuvier and Buffon, which +might not have enabled him to pose as a scientist before the Soulanges +world; but besides this he was making a collection of shells, and he +possessed an herbarium, and he knew how to stuff birds. He lived upon +the glory of having bequeathed his cabinet of natural history to the +town of Soulanges. After this was known he was considered throughout +the department as a great naturalist and the successor of Buffon. Like a +certain Genevese banker, whose pedantry, coldness, and puritan propriety +he copied, without possessing either his money or his shrewdness, +Monsieur Gourdon exhibited with great complacency the famous collection, +consisting of a bear and a monkey (both of which had died on their way +to Soulanges), all the rodents of the department, mice and field-mice +and dormice, rats, muskrats, and moles, etc.; all the interesting birds +ever shot in Burgundy, and an Alpine eagle caught in the Jura. Gourdon +also possessed a collection of lepidoptera,--a word which led society +to hope for monstrosities, and to say, when it saw them, "Why, they are +only butterflies!" Besides these things he had a fine array of fossil +shells, mostly the collections of his friends which they bequeathed to +him, and all the minerals of Burgundy and the Jura. + +These treasures, laid out on shelves with glass doors (the drawers +beneath containing the insects), occupied the whole of the first floor +of the doctor's house, and produced a certain effect through the oddity +of the names on the tickets, the magic effect of the colors, and the +gathering together of so many things which no one pays the slightest +attention to when seen in nature, though much admired under glass. +Society took a regular day to go and look at Monsieur Gourdon's +collection. + +"I have," he said to all inquirers, "five hundred ornithological +objects, two hundred mammifers, five thousand insects, three thousand +shells, and seven thousand specimens of minerals." + +"What patience you have had!" said the ladies. + +"One must do something for one's country," replied the collector. + +He drew an enormous profit from his carcasses by the mere repetition +of the words, "I have bequeathed everything to the town by my will." +Visitors lauded his philanthropy; the authorities talked of devoting +the second floor of the town hall to the "Gourdon Museum," after the +collector's death. + +"I rely upon the gratitude of my fellow-citizens to attach my name to +the gift," he replied; "for I dare not hope they would place a marble +bust of me--" + +"It would be the very least we could do for you," they rejoined; "are +you not the glory of our town?" + +Thus the man actually came to consider himself one of the celebrities of +Burgundy. The surest incomes are not from consols after all; those our +vanity obtains for us have better security. This man of science was, to +employ Lupin's superlatives, happy! happy!! happy!!! + +Gourdon, the clerk of the court, brother of the doctor, was a pitiful +little creature, whose features all gathered about his nose, so that the +nose seemed the point of departure for the forehead, the cheeks, and +the mouth, all of which were connected with it just as the ravines of a +mountain begin at the summit. This pinched little man was thought to be +one of the greatest poets in Burgundy,--a Piron, it was the fashion to +say. The dual merits of the two brothers gave rise to the remark: "We +have the brothers Gourdon at Soulanges--two very distinguished men; men +who could hold their own in Paris." + +Devoted to the game of cup-and-ball, the clerk of the court became +possessed by another mania,--that of composing an ode in honor of an +amusement which amounted to a passion in the eighteenth century. Manias +among mediocrats often run in couples. Gourdon junior gave birth to his +poem during the reign of Napoleon. That fact is sufficient to show +the sound and healthy school of poesy to which he belonged; Luce de +Lancival, Parny, Saint-Lambert, Rouche, Vigee, Andrieux, Berchoux were +his heroes. Delille was his god, until the day when the leading society +of Soulanges raised the question as to whether Gourdon were not superior +to Delille; after which the clerk of the court always called his +competitor "Monsieur l'Abbe Delille," with exaggerated politeness. + +The poems manufactured between 1780 and 1814 were all of one pattern, +and the one which Gourdon composed upon the Cup-and-Ball will give an +idea of them. They required a certain knack or proficiency in the art. +"The Chorister" is the Saturn of this abortive generation of jocular +poems, all in four cantos or thereabouts, for it was generally admitted +that six would wear the subject threadbare. + +Gourdon's poem entitled "Ode to the Cup-and-Ball" obeyed the poetic +rules which governed these works, rules that were invariable in their +application. Each poem contained in the first canto a description of +the "object sung," preceded (as in the case of Gourdon) by a species of +invocation, of which the following is a model:-- + + I sing the good game that belongeth to all, + The game, be it known, of the Cup and the Ball; + Dear to little and great, to the fools and the wise; + Charming game! where the cure of all tedium lies; + When we toss up the ball on the point of a stick + Palamedus himself might have envied the trick; + O Muse of the Loves and the Laughs and the Games, + Come down and assist me, for, true to your aims, + I have ruled off this paper in syllable squares. + Come, help me-- + +After explaining the game and describing the handsomest cup-and-balls +recorded in history, after relating what fabulous custom it had formerly +brought to the Singe-Vert and to all dealers in toys and turned ivories, +and finally, after proving that the game attained to the dignity of +statics, Gourdon ended the first canto with the following conclusion, +which will remind the erudite reader of all the conclusions of the first +cantos of all these poems:-- + + 'Tis thus that the arts and the sciences, too, + Find wisdom in things that seemed silly to you. + +The second canto, invariably employed to depict the manner of using "the +object," explaining how to exhibit it in society and before women, and +the benefit to be derived therefrom, will be readily conceived by the +friends of this virtuous literature from the following quotation, which +depicts the player going through his performance under the eyes of his +chosen lady:-- + + Now look at the player who sits in your midst, + On that ivory ball how his sharp eye is fixt; + He waits and he watches with keenest attention, + Its least little movement in all its precision; + The ball its parabola thrice has gone round, + At the end of the string to which it is bound. + Up it goes! but the player his triumph has missed, + For the disc has come down on his maladroit wrist; + But little he cares for the sting of the ball, + A smile from his mistress consoles for it all. + +It was this delineation, worthy of Virgil, which first raised a doubt as +to Delille's superiority over Gourdon. The word "disc," contested by +the opinionated Brunet, gave matter for discussions which lasted eleven +months; in fact, until Gourdon the scientist, one evening when all +present were on the point of getting seriously angry, annihilated the +anti-discers by observing:-- + +"The moon, called a _disc_ by poets, is undoubtedly a ball." + +"How do you know that?" retorted Brunet. "We have never seen but one +side." + +The third canto told the regulation story,--in this instance, the +famous anecdote of the cup-and-ball which all the world knows by heart, +concerning a celebrated minister of Louis XVI. According to the sacred +formula delivered by the "Debats" from 1810 to 1814, in praise of these +glorious words, Gourdon's ode "borrowed fresh charms from poesy to +embellish the tale." + +The fourth canto summed up the whole, and concluded with these daring +words,--not published, be it remarked, from 1810 to 1814; in fact, they +did not see the light till 1824, after Napoleon's death. + + 'Twas thus that I sang in the time of alarms. + Oh, if kings would consent to bear no other arms, + And people enjoyed what was best for them all, + The sweet little game of the Cup and the Ball, + Our Burgundy then might be free of all fear, + And return to the good days of Saturn and Rhea. + +These fine verses were published in a first and only edition from the +press of Bournier, printer of Ville-aux-Fayes. One hundred subscribers, +in the sum of three francs, guaranteed the dangerous precedent of +immortality to the poem,--a liberality that was all the greater because +these hundred persons had heard the poem from beginning to end a hundred +times over. + +Madame Soudry had lately suppressed the cup-and-ball, which usually lay +on a pier-table in the salon and for the last seven years had given rise +to endless quotations, for she finally discovered in the toy a rival to +her own attractions. + +As to the author, who boasted of future poems in his desk, it is enough +to quote the terms in which he mentioned to the leading society of +Soulanges a rival candidate for literary honors. + +"Have you heard a curious piece of news?" he had said, two years +earlier. "There is another poet in Burgundy! Yes," he added, remarking +the astonishment on all faces, "he comes from Macon. But you could +never imagine the subjects he takes up,--a perfect jumble, absolutely +unintelligible,--lakes, stars, waves, billows! not a single +philosophical image, not even a didactic effort! he is ignorant of the +very meaning of poetry. He calls the sky by its name. He says 'moon,' +bluntly, instead of naming it 'the planet of night.' That's what the +desire to be thought original brings men to," added Gourdon, mournfully. +"Poor young man! A Burgundian, and sing such stuff as that!--the pity +of it! If he had only consulted me, I would have pointed out to him the +noblest of all themes, wine,--a poem to be called the Baccheide; for +which, alas! I now feel myself too old." + +This great poet is still ignorant of his finest triumph (though he owes +it to the fact of being a Burgundian), namely, that of living in the +town of Soulanges, so rounded and perfected within itself that it knows +nothing of the modern Pleiades, not even their names. + +A hundred Gourdons made poetry under the Empire, and yet they tell us +it was a period that neglected literature! Examine the "Journal de +la Libraire" and you will find poems on the game of draughts, on +backgammon, on tricks with cards, on geography, typography, comedy, +etc.,--not to mention the vaunted masterpieces of Delille on Piety, +Imagination, Conversation; and those of Berchoux on Gastromania and +Dansomania, etc. Who can foresee the chances and changes of taste, +the caprices of fashion, the transformations of the human mind? The +generations as they pass along sweep out of sight the last fragments +of the idols they found on their path and set up other gods,--to be +overthrown like the rest. + +Sarcus, a handsome little man with a dapple-gray head, devoted himself +in turn to Themis and to Flora,--in other words, to legislation and a +greenhouse. For the last twelve years he had been meditating a book +on the History of the Institution of Justices of the Peace, "whose +political and judiciary role," he said, "had already passed through +several phases, all derived from the Code of Brumaire, year IV.; and +to-day that institution, so precious to the nation, had lost its power +because the salaries were not in keeping with the importance of its +functions, which ought to be performed by irremovable officials." Rated +in the community as an able man, Sarcus was the accepted statesman of +Madame Soudry's salon; you can readily imagine that he was the leading +bore. They said he talked like a book. Gaubertin prophesied he would +receive the cross of the Legion of honor, but not until the day when, as +Leclercq's successor, he should take his seat on the benches of the Left +Centre. + +Guerbet, the collector, a man of parts, a heavy, fat, individual with +a buttery face, a toupet on his bald spot, gold earrings, which were +always in difficulty with his shirt-collar, had the hobby of pomology. +Proud of possessing the finest fruit-garden in the arrondissement, he +gathered his first crops a month later than those of Paris; his hot-beds +supplied him with pine-apples, nectarines, and peas, out of season. He +brought bunches of strawberries to Madame Soudry with pride when the +fruit could be bought for ten sous a basket in Paris. + +Soulanges possessed a pharmaceutist named Vermut, a chemist, who was +more of a chemist than Sarcus was a statesman, or Lupin a singer, or +Gourdon the elder a scientist, or his brother a poet. Nevertheless, the +leading society of Soulanges did not take much notice of Vermut, and +the second-class society took none at all. The instinct of the first may +have led them to perceive the real superiority of this thinker, who said +little but smiled at their absurdities so satirically that they first +doubted his capacity and then whispered tales against it; as for the +other class they took no notice of him one way or the other. + +Vermut was the butt of Madame Soudry's salon. No society is complete +without a victim,--without an object to pity, ridicule, despise, and +protect. Vermut, full of his scientific problems, often came with his +cravat untied, his waistcoat unbuttoned, and his little green surtout +spotted. + +The little man, gifted with the patience of a chemist, could not enjoy +(that is the term employed in the provinces to express the abolition of +domestic rule) Madame Vermut,--a charming woman, a lively woman, capital +company (for she could lose forty sous at cards and say nothing), a +woman who railed at her husband, annoyed him with epigrams, and declared +him to be an imbecile unable to distil anything but dulness. Madame +Vermut was one of those women who in the society of a small town are the +life and soul of amusement and who set things going. She supplied the +salt of her little world, kitchen-salt, it is true; her jokes were +somewhat broad, but society forgave them; though she was capable of +saying to the cure Taupin, a man of seventy years of age, with white +hair, "Hold your tongue, my lad." + +The miller of Soulanges, possessing an income of fifty thousand francs, +had an only daughter whom Lupin desired for his son Amaury, since he had +lost the hope of marrying him to Gaubertin's daughter. This miller, a +Sarcus-Taupin, was the Nucingen of the little town. He was supposed to +be thrice a millionaire; but he never transacted business with others, +and thought only of grinding his wheat and keeping a monopoly of it; +his most noticeable point was a total absence of politeness and good +manners. + +The elder Guerbet, brother of the post-master at Conches, possessed +an income of ten thousand francs, besides his salary as collector. The +Gourdons were rich; the doctor had married the only daughter of old +Monsieur Gendrin-Vatebled, keeper of the forests and streams, whom the +family were now _expecting to die_, while the poet had married the niece +and sole heiress of the Abbe Taupin, the curate of Soulanges, a stout +priest who lived in his cure like a rat in his cheese. + +This clever ecclesiastic, devoted to the leading society, kind and +obliging to the second, apostolic to the poor and unfortunate, made +himself beloved by the whole town. He was cousin of the miller and +cousin of the Sarcuses, and belonged therefore to the neighborhood and +to its mediocracy. He always dined out and saved expenses; he went to +weddings but came away before the ball; he paid the costs of public +worship, saying, "It is my business." And the parish let him do it, +with the remark, "We have an excellent priest." The bishop, who knew the +Soulanges people and was not at all misled as to the true value of the +abbe, was glad enough to keep in such a town a man who made religion +acceptable, and who knew how to fill his church and preach to sleepy +heads. + +It is unnecessary to remark that not only each of these worthy burghers +possessed some one of the special qualifications which are necessary to +existence in the provinces, but also that each cultivated his field in +the domain of vanity without a rival. Pere Guerbet understood finance, +Soudry might have been minister of war; if Cuvier had passed that way +incognito, the leading society of Soulanges would have proved to him +that he knew nothing in comparison with Monsieur Gourdon the doctor. +"Adolphe Nourrit with his thread of a voice," remarked the notary +with patronizing indulgence, "was scarcely worthy to accompany the +nightingale of Soulanges." As to the author of the "Cup-and-Ball" (which +was then being printed at Bournier's), society was satisfied that a poet +of his force could not be met with in Paris, for Delille was now dead. + +This provincial bourgeoisie, so comfortably satisfied with itself, took +the lead through the various superiorities of its members. Therefore +the imagination of those who ever resided, even for a short time, in a +little town of this kind can conceive the air of profound satisfaction +upon the faces of these people, who believed themselves the solar plexus +of France, all of them armed with incredible dexterity and shrewdness to +do mischief,--all, in their wisdom, declaring that the hero of Essling +was a coward, Madame de Montcornet a manoeuvring Parisian, and the Abbe +Brossette an ambitious little priest. + +If Rigou, Soudry, and Gaubertin had lived at Ville-aux-Fayes, they would +have quarrelled; their various pretensions would have clashed; but +fate ordained that the Lucullus of Blangy felt too strongly the need +of solitude, in which to wallow at his ease in usury and sensuality, to +live anywhere but at Blangy; that Madame Soudry had sense enough to +see that she could reign nowhere else except at Soulanges; and that +Ville-aux-Fayes was Gaubertin's place of business. Those who enjoy +studying social nature will admit that General Montcornet was pursued by +special ill-luck in this accidental separation of his dangerous enemies, +who thus accomplished the evolutions of their individual power and +vanity at such distances from each other that neither star interfered +with the orbit of the other,--a fact which doubled and trebled their +powers of mischief. + +Nevertheless, though all these worthy bourgeois, proud of their +accomplishments, considered their society as far superior in attractions +to that of Ville-aux-Fayes, and repeated with comic pomposity the local +dictum, "Soulanges is a town of society and social pleasures," it +must not be supposed that Ville-aux-Fayes accepted this supremacy. The +Gaubertin salon ridiculed ("in petto") the salon Soudry. By the manner +in which Gaubertin remarked, "We are a financial community, engaged +in actual business; we have the folly to fatigue ourselves in making +fortunes," it was easy to perceive a latent antagonism between the earth +and the moon. The moon believed herself useful to the earth, and the +earth governed the moon. Earth and moon, however, lived in the closest +intimacy. At the carnival the leading society of Soulanges went in a +body to four balls given by Gaubertin, Gendrin, Leclercq, and Soudry, +junior. Every Sunday the latter, his wife, Monsieur, Madame, and +Mademoiselle Elise Gaubertin dined with the Soudrys at Soulanges. When +the sub-prefect was invited, and when the postmaster of Conches arrived +to take pot-luck, Soulanges enjoyed the sight of four official equipages +drawn up at the door of the Soudry mansion. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE CONSPIRATORS IN THE QUEEN'S SALON + + +Reaching Soulanges about half-past five o'clock, Rigou was sure of +finding the usual party assembled at the Soudrys'. There, as everywhere +else in town, the dinner-hour was three o'clock, according to the custom +of the last century. From five to nine the notables of Soulanges met +in Madame Soudry's salon to exchange the news, make their political +speeches, comment upon the private lives of every one in the valley, and +talk about Les Aigues, which latter topic kept the conversation going +for at least an hour every day. It was everybody's business to learn at +least something of what was going on, and also to pay their court to the +mistress of the house. + +After this preliminary talk they played at boston, the only game the +queen understood. When the fat old Guerbet had mimicked Madame Isaure, +Gaubertin's wife, laughed at her languishing airs, imitated her thin +voice, her pinched mouth, and her juvenile ways; when the Abbe Taupin +had related one of the tales of his repertory; when Lupin had told of +some event at Ville-aux-Fayes, and Madame Soudry had been deluged with +compliments ad nauseum, the company would say: "We have had a charming +game of boston." + +Too self-indulgent to be at the trouble of driving over to the Soudrys' +merely to hear the vapid talk of its visitors and to see a Parisian +monkey in the guise of an old woman, Rigou, far superior in intelligence +and education to this petty society, never made his appearance unless +business brought him over to meet the notary. He excused himself from +visiting on the ground of his occupations, his habits, and his health, +which latter did not allow him, he said, to return at night along a road +which led by the foggy banks of the Thune. + +The tall, stiff usurer always had an imposing effect upon Madame +Soudry's company, who instinctively recognized in his nature the cruelty +of the tiger with steel claws, the craft of a savage, the wisdom of +one born in a cloister and ripened by the sun of gold,--a man to whom +Gaubertin had never yet been willing to fully commit himself. + +The moment the little green carriole and the bay horse passed the Cafe +de la Paix, Urbain, Soudry's man-servant, who was seated on a +bench under the dining-room windows, and was gossipping with the +tavern-keeper, shades his eyes with his hand to see who was coming. + +"It's Pere Rigou," he said. "I must go round and open the door. Take his +horse, Socquard." And Urbain, a former trooper, who could not get into +the gendarmerie and had therefore taken service with Soudry, went round +the house to open the gates of the courtyard. + +Socquard, a famous personage throughout the valley, was treated, as +you see, with very little ceremony by the valet. But so it is with many +illustrious people who are so kind as to walk and to sneeze and to sleep +and to eat precisely like common mortals. + +Socquard, born a Hercules, could carry a weight of eleven hundred +pounds; a blow of his fist applied on a man's back would break the +vertebral column in two; he could bend an iron bar, or hold back a +carriage drawn by one horse. A Milo of Crotona in the valley, his fame +had spread throughout the department, where all sorts of foolish stories +were current about him, as about all celebrities. It was told how he had +once carried a poor woman and her donkey and her basket on his back to +market; how he had been known to eat a whole ox and drink the fourth +of a hogshead of wine in one day, etc. Gentle as a marriageable +girl, Socquard, who was a stout, short man, with a placid face, broad +shoulders, and a deep chest, where his lungs played like the bellows +of a forge, possessed a flute-like voice, the limpid tones of which +surprised all those who heard them for the first time. + +Like Tonsard, whose renown released him from the necessity of giving +proofs of his ferocity, in fact, like all other men who are backed by +public opinion of one kind or another, Socquard never displayed his +extraordinary muscular force unless asked to do so by friends. He now +took the horse as the usurer drew up at the steps of the portico. + +"Are you all well at home, Monsieur Rigou?" said the illustrious +innkeeper. + +"Pretty well, my good friend," replied Rigou. "Do Plissoud and +Bonnebault and Viollet and Amaury still continue good customers?" + +This question, uttered in a tone of good-natured interest, was by no +means one of those empty speeches which superiors are apt to bestow +upon inferiors. In his leisure moments Rigou thought over the smallest +details of "the affair," and Fourchon had already warned him that there +was something suspicious in the intimacy between Plissoud, Bonnebault, +and the brigadier, Viollet. + +Bonnebault, in payment of a few francs lost at cards, might very likely +tell the secrets he heard at Tonsard's to Viollet; or he might let them +out over his punch without realizing the importance of such gossip. But +as the information of the old otter man might be instigated by thirst, +Rigou paid no attention except so far as it concerned Plissoud, whose +situation was likely to inspire him with a desire to counteract the +coalition against Les Aigues, if only to get his paws greased by one or +the other of the two parties. + +Plissoud combined with his duties of under-sheriff other occupations +which were poorly remunerated, that of agent of insurance (a new form of +enterprise just beginning to show itself in France), agent, also, of a +society providing against the chances of recruitment. His insufficient +pay and a love of billiards and boiled wine made his future doubtful. +Like Fourchon, he cultivated the art of doing nothing, and expected his +fortune through some lucky but problematic chance. He hated the leading +society, but he had measured its power. He alone knew the middle-class +coalition organized by Gaubertin to its depths; and he continued to +sneer at the rich men of Soulanges and Ville-aux-Fayes, as if he alone +represented the opposition. Without money and not respected, he did not +seem a person to be feared professionally, and so Brunet, glad to have a +despised competitor, protected him and helped him along, to prevent him +selling his business to some eager young man, like Bonnac for instance, +who might force him, Brunet, to divide the patronage of the canton +between them. + +"Thanks to those fellows, we keep the ball a-rolling," said Socquard. +"But folks are trying to imitate my boiled wine." + +"Sue them," said Rigou, sententiously. + +"That would lead too far," replied the innkeeper. + +"Do your clients get on well together?" + +"Tolerably, yes; sometimes they'll have a row, but that's only natural +for players." + +All heads were at the window of the Soudry salon which looked to the +square. Recognizing the father of his daughter-in-law, Soudry came to +the portico to receive him. + +"Well, comrade," said the mayor of Soulanges, "is Annette ill, that you +give us your company of an evening?" + +Through an old habit acquired in the gendarmerie Soudry always went +direct to the point. + +"No,--There's trouble brewing," replied Rigou, touching his right +fore-finger to the hand which Soudry held out to him. "I came to talk +about it, for it concerns our children in a way--" + +Soudry, a handsome man dressed in blue, as though he were still a +gendarme, with a black collar, and spurs at his heels, took Rigou by the +arm and led him up to his imposing better-half. The glass door to the +terrace was open, and the guests were walking about enjoying the summer +evening, which brought out the full beauty of the glorious landscape +which we have already described. + +"It is a long time since we have seen you, my dear Rigou," said Madame +Soudry, taking the arm of the ex-Benedictine and leading him out upon +the terrace. + +"My digestion is so troublesome!" he replied; "see! my color is almost +as high as yours." + +Rigou's appearance on the terrace was the sign for an explosion of +jovial greetings on the part of the assembled company. + +"And how may the lord of Blangy be?" said little Sarcus, justice of the +peace. + +"Lord!" replied Rigou, bitterly, "I am not even cock of my own village +now." + +"The hens don't say so, scamp!" exclaimed Madame Soudry, tapping her fan +on his arm. + +"All well, my dear master?" said the notary, bowing to his chief client. + +"Pretty well," replied Rigou, again putting his fore-finger into his +interlocutor's hand. + +This gesture, by which Rigou kept down the process of hand-shaking to +the coldest and stiffest of demonstrations would have revealed the whole +man to any observer who did not already know him. + +"Let us find a corner where we can talk quietly," said the ex-monk, +looking at Lupin and at Madame Soudry. + +"Let us return to the salon," replied the queen. + +"What has the Shopman done now?" asked Soudry, sitting down beside his +wife and putting his arm about her waist. + +Madame Soudry, like other old women, forgave a great deal in return for +such public marks of tenderness. + +"Why," said Rigou, in a low voice, to set an example of caution, "he has +gone to the Prefecture to demand the enforcement of the penalties; he +wants the help of the authorities." + +"Then he's lost," said Lupin, rubbing his hands; "the peasants will +fight." + +"Fight!" cried Soudry, "that depends. If the prefect and the general, +who are friends, send a squadron of cavalry the peasants can't fight. +They might at a pinch get the better of the gendarmes, but as for +resisting a charge of cavalry!--" + +"Sibilet heard him say something much more dangerous than that," said +Rigou; "and that's what brings me here." + +"Oh, my poor Sophie!" cried Madame Soudry, sentimentally, alluding to +her _friend_, Mademoiselle Laguerre, "into what hands Les Aigues has +fallen! This is what we have gained by the Revolution!--a parcel of +swaggering epaulets! We might have foreseen that whenever the bottle was +turned upside down the dregs would spoil the wine!" + +"He means to go to Paris and cabal with the Keeper of the Seals and +others to get the whole judiciary changed down here," said Rigou. + +"Ha!" cried Lupin, "then he sees his danger." + +"If they appoint my son-in-law attorney-general we can't help ourselves; +the general will get him replaced by some Parisian devoted to his +interests," continued Rigou. "If he gets a place in Paris for Gendrin +and makes Guerbet chief-justice of the court at Auxerre, he'll knock +down our skittles! The gendarmerie is on his side now, and if he gets +the courts as well, and keeps such advisers as the abbe and Michaud we +sha'n't dance at the wedding; he'll play us some scurvy trick or other." + +"How is it that in all these five years you have never managed to get +rid of that abbe?" said Lupin. + +"You don't know him; he's as suspicious as a blackbird," replied Rigou. +"He is not a man at all, that priest; he doesn't care for women; I can't +find out that he has any passion; there's no point at which one can +attack him. The general lays himself open by his temper. A man with a +vice is the servant of his enemies if they know how to pull its string. +There are no strong men but those who lead their vices instead of being +led by them. The peasants are all right; their hatred against the abbe +keeps up; but we can do nothing as yet. He's like Michaud, in his +way; such men are too good for this world,--God ought to call them to +himself." + +"It would be a good plan to find some pretty servant-girl to scrub his +staircase," remarked Madame Soudry. The words caused Rigou to give the +little jump with which crafty natures recognize the craft of others. + +"The Shopman has another vice," he said; "he loves his wife; we might +get hold of him that way." + +"We ought to find out how far she really influences him," said Madame +Soudry. + +"There's the rub!" said Lupin. + +"As for you, Lupin," said Rigou, in a tone of authority, "be off to the +Prefecture and see the beautiful Madame Sarcus at once! You must get her +to tell you all the Shopman says and does at the Prefecture." + +"Then I shall have to stay all night," replied Lupin. + +"So much the better for Sarcus the rich; he'll be the gainer," said +Rigou. "She is not yet out of date, Madame Sarcus--" + +"Oh! Monsieur Rigou," said Madame Soudry, in a mincing tone, "are women +ever out of date?" + +"You may be right about Madame Sarcus; she doesn't paint before the +glass," retorted Rigou, who was always disgusted by the exhibition of +the Cochet's ancient charms. + +Madame Soudry, who thought she used only a "suspicion" of rouge, did not +perceive the sarcasm and hastened to say:-- + +"Is it possible that women paint?" + +"Now, Lupin," said Rigou, without replying to this naivete, "go over +to Gaubertin's to-morrow morning. Tell him that my fellow-mayor and I" +(striking Soudry on the thigh) "will break bread with him at breakfast +somewhere about midday. Tell him everything, so that we may all have +thought it over before we meet, for now's the time to make an end of +that damned Shopman. As I drove over here I came to the conclusion it +would be best to get up a quarrel between the courts and him, so that +the Keeper of the Seals would be wary of making the changes he may ask +in their members." + +"Bravo for the son of the Church!" cried Lupin, slapping Rigou on the +shoulder. + +Madame Soudry was here struck by an idea which could come only to a +former waiting-maid of an Opera divinity. + +"If," she said, "one could only get the Shopman to the fete at +Soulanges, and throw some fine girl in his way who would turn his head, +we could easily set his wife against him by letting her know that the +son of an upholsterer has gone back to the style of his early loves." + +"Ah, my beauty!" said Soudry, "you have more sense in your head than the +Prefecture of police in Paris." + +"That's an idea which proves that Madame reigns by mind as well as by +beauty," said Lupin, who was rewarded by a grimace which the leading +society of Soulanges were in the habit of accepting without protest for +a smile. + +"One might do better still," said Rigou, after some thought; "if we +could only turn it into a downright scandal." + +"Complaint and indictment! affair in the police court!" cried Lupin. +"Oh! that would be grand!" + +"Glorious!" said Soudry, candidly. "What happiness to see the Comte de +Montcornet, grand cross of the Legion of honor, commander of the Order +of Saint Louis, and lieutenant-general, accused of having attempted, in +a public resort, the virtue--just think of it!" + +"He loves his wife too well," said Lupin, reflectively. "He couldn't be +got to that." + +"That's no obstacle," remarked Rigou; "but I don't know a single girl in +the whole arrondissement who is capable of making a sinner of a saint. I +have been looking out for one for the abbe." + +"What do you say to that handsome Gatienne Giboulard, of Auxerre, whom +Sarcus, junior, is mad after?" asked Lupin. + +"That's the only one," answered Rigou, "but she is not suitable; she +thinks she has only to be seen to be admired; she's not complying +enough; we want a witch and a sly-boots, too. Never mind, the right one +will turn up sooner or later." + +"Yes," said Lupin, "the more pretty girls he sees the greater the +chances are." + +"But perhaps you can't get the Shopman to the fair," said the +ex-gendarme. "And if he does come, will he go to the Tivoli ball?" + +"The reason that has always kept him away from the fair doesn't exist +this year, my love," said Madame Soudry. + +"What reason, dearest?" asked Soudry. + +"The Shopman wanted to marry Mademoiselle de Soulanges," said the +notary. "The family replied that she was too young, and that mortified +him. That is why Monsieur de Soulanges and Monsieur de Montcornet, two +old friends who both served in the Imperial Guard, are so cool to +each other that they never speak. The Shopman doesn't want to meet the +Soulanges at the fair; but this year the family are not coming." + +Usually the Soulanges party stayed at the chateau from July to October, +but the general was then in command of the artillery in Spain, under the +Duc d'Angouleme, and the countess had accompanied him. At the siege of +Cadiz the Comte de Soulanges obtained, as every one knows, the marshal's +baton, which he kept till 1826. + +"Very true," cried Lupin. "Well, it is for you, papa," he added, +addressing Rigou, "to manoeuvre the matter so that we can get him to the +fair; once there, we ought to be able to entrap him." + +The fair of Soulanges, which takes place on the 15th of August, is one +of the features of the town, and carries the palm over all other +fairs in a circuit of sixty miles, even those of the capital of +the department. Ville-aux-Fayes has no fair, for its fete-day, the +Saint-Sylvestre, happens in winter. + +From the 12th to the 15th of August all sorts of merchants abounded at +Soulanges, and set up their booths in two parallel lines, two rows of +the well-known gray linen huts, which gave a lively appearance to the +usually deserted streets. The two weeks of the fair brought in a sort +of harvest to the little town, for the festival has the authority and +prestige of tradition. The peasants, as old Fourchon said, flocked in +from the districts to which labor bound them for the rest of the +year. The wonderful show on the counters of the improvised shops, the +collection of all sorts of merchandise, the coveted objects of the wants +or the vanities of these sons of the soil, who have no other shows or +exhibitions to enjoy exercise a periodical seduction over the minds of +all, especially the women and children. So, after the first of August +the authorities posted advertisements signed by Soudry, throughout +the whole arrondissement, offering protection to merchants, jugglers, +mountebanks, prodigies of all kinds, and stating how long the fair would +last, and what would be its principal attractions. + +On these posters, about which it will be remembered Madame Tonsard +inquired of Vermichel, there was always, on the last line, the following +announcement: + +"Tivoli will be illuminated with colored-glass lamps." + +The town had adopted as the place for public a dance-ground created +by Socquard out of a stony garden (stony, like the rest of the hill +on which Soulanges is built, where the gardens are of made land), and +called by him a Tivoli. This character of the soil explains the peculiar +flavor of the Soulanges wine,--a white wine, dry and spirituous, very +like Madeira or the Vouvray wine, or Johannisberger,--three vintages +which resemble one another. + +The powerful effect produced by the Socquard ball upon the imaginations +of the whole country-side made the inhabitants thereof very proud of +their Tivoli. Such as had ventured as far as Paris declared that +the Parisian Tivoli was superior to that of Soulanges only in size. +Gaubertin boldly declared that, for his part, he preferred the Socquard +ball to the Parisian ball. + +"Well, we'll think it all over," continued Rigou. "That Parisian fellow, +the editor of a newspaper, will soon get tired of his present amusement +and be glad of a change; perhaps we could through the servants give him +the idea of coming to the fair, and he'd bring the others; I'll consider +it. Sibilet might--although, to be sure, his influence is devilishly +decreased of late--but he might get the general to think he could curry +popularity by coming." + +"Find out if the beautiful countess keeps the general at arm's length," +said Lupin; "that's the point if you want him to fall into the farce at +Tivoli." + +"That little woman," cried Madame Soudry, "is too much of a Parisian not +to know how to run with the hare and hold with the hounds." + +"Fourchon has got his granddaughter Catherine on good terms, he tells +me, with Charles, the Shopman's groom. That gives us one ear more in +Les Aigues--Are you sure of the Abbe Taupin," he added, as the priest +entered the room from the terrace. + +"We hold him and the Abbe Mouchon, too, just as I hold Soudry," said the +queen, stroking her husband's chin; "you are not unhappy, dearest, are +you?" she said to Soudry. + +"If I can plan a scandal against that Tartufe of a Brossette we can +win," said Rigou, in a low voice. "But I am not sure if the local spirit +can succeed against the Church spirit. You don't realize what that is. +I, myself, who am no fool, I can't say what I'll do when I fall ill. I +believe I shall try to be reconciled with the Church." + +"Suffer me to hope it," said the Abbe Taupin, for whose benefit Rigou +had raised his voice on the last words. + +"Alas! the wrong I did in marrying prevents it," replied Rigou. "I +cannot kill off Madame Rigou." + +"Meantime, let us think of Les Aigues," said Madame Soudry. + +"Yes," said the ex-monk. "Do you know, I begin to think that our +associate at Ville-aux-Fayes may be cleverer than the rest of us. I +fancy that Gaubertin wants Les Aigues for himself, and that he means to +trick us in the end." + +"But Les Aigues will not belong to any one of us; it will have to come +down, from roof to cellar," said Soudry. + +"I shouldn't be surprised if there were treasure buried in those +cellars," observed Rigou, cleverly. + +"Nonsense!" + +"Well, in the wars of the olden time the great lords, who were often +besieged and surprised, did bury their gold until they should be able to +recover it; and you know that the Marquis de Soulanges-Hautemer (in whom +the younger branch came to an end) was one of the victims of the Biron +conspiracy. The Comtesse de Moret received the property from Henri IV. +when it was confiscated." + +"See what it is to know the history of France!" said Soudry. "You are +right. It is time to come to an understanding with Gaubertin." + +"If he shirks," said Rigou, "we must smoke him out." + +"He is rich enough now," said Lupin, "to be an honest man." + +"I'll answer for him as I would for myself," said Madame Soudry; "he's +the most loyal man in the kingdom." + +"We all believe in his loyalty," said Rigou, "but nevertheless nothing +should be neglected, even among friends--By the bye, I think there is +some one in Soulanges who is hindering matters." + +"Who's that?" asked Soudry. + +"Plissoud," replied Rigou. + +"Plissoud!" exclaimed Soudry. "Poor fool! Brunet holds him by the +halter, and his wife by the gullet; ask Lupin." + +"What can he do?" said Lupin. + +"He means to warn Montcornet," replied Rigou, "and get his influence and +a place--" + +"It wouldn't bring him more than his wife earns for him at Soulanges," +said Madame Soudry. + +"He tells everything to his wife when he is drunk," remarked Lupin. "We +shall know it all in good time." + +"The beautiful Madame Plissoud has no secrets from you," said Rigou; "we +may be easy about that." + +"Besides, she's as stupid as she is beautiful," said Madame Soudry. "I +wouldn't change with her; for if I were a man I'd prefer an ugly woman +who has some mind, to a beauty who can't say two words." + +"Ah!" said the notary, biting his lips, "but she can make others say +three." + +"Puppy!" cried Rigou, as he made for the door. + +"Well, then," said Soudry, following him to the portico, "to-morrow, +early." + +"I'll come and fetch you--Ha! Lupin," he said to the notary, who came +out with him to order his horse, "try to make sure that Madame Sarcus +hears all the Shopman says and does against us at the Prefecture." + +"If she doesn't hear it, who will?" replied Lupin. + +"Excuse me," said Rigou, smiling blandly, "but there are such a lot of +ninnies in there that I forgot there was one clever man." + +"The wonder is that I don't grow rusty among them," replied Lupin, +naively. + +"Is it true that Soudry has hired a pretty servant?" + +"Yes," replied Lupin; "for the last week our worthy mayor has set +the charms of his wife in full relief by comparing her with a little +peasant-girl about the age of an old ox; and we can't yet imagine how +he settles it with Madame Soudry, for, would you believe it, he has the +audacity to go to bed early." + +"I'll find out to-morrow," said the village Sardanapalus, trying to +smile. + +The two plotters shook hands as they parted. + +Rigou, who did not like to be on the road after dark for, +notwithstanding his present popularity, he was cautious, called to his +horse, "Get up, Citizen,"--a joke this son of 1793 was fond of letting +fly at the Revolution. Popular revolutions have no more bitter enemies +than those they have trained themselves. + +"Pere Rigou's visits are pretty short," said Gourdon the poet to Madame +Soudry. + +"They are pleasant, if they are short," she answered. + +"Like his own life," said the doctor; "his abuse of pleasures will cut +that short." + +"So much the better," remarked Soudry, "my son will step into the +property." + +"Did he bring you any news about Les Aigues?" asked the Abbe Taupin. + +"Yes, my dear abbe," said Madame Soudry. "Those people are the scourge +of the neighborhood. I can't comprehend how it is that Madame de +Montcornet, who is certainly a well-bred woman, doesn't understand their +interests better." + +"And yet she has a model before her eyes," said the abbe. + +"Who is that?" asked Madame Soudry, smirking. + +"The Soulanges." + +"Ah, yes!" replied the queen after a pause. + +"Here I am!" cried Madame Vermut, coming into the room; "and without +my re-active,--for Vermut is so inactive in all that concerns me that I +can't call him an active of any kind." + +"What the devil is that cursed old Rigou doing there?" said Soudry +to Guerbet, as they saw the green chaise stop before the gate of the +Tivoli. "He is one of those tiger-cats whose every step has an object." + +"You may well say cursed," replied the fat little collector. + +"He has gone into the Cafe de la Paix," remarked Gourdon, the doctor. + +"And there's some trouble there," added Gourdon the poet; "I can hear +them yelping from here." + +"That cafe," said the abbe, "is like the temple of Janus; it was called +the Cafe de la Guerre under the Empire, and then it was peace itself; +the most respectable of the bourgeoisie met there for conversation--" + +"Conversation!" interrupted the justice of the peace. "What kind of +conversation was it which produced all the little Bourniers?" + +"--but ever since it has been called, in honor of the Bourbons, the +Cafe de la Paix, fights take place there every day," said Abbe Taupin, +finishing the sentence which the magistrate had taken the liberty of +interrupting. + +This idea of the abbe was, like the quotations from "The Cup-and-Ball," +of frequent recurrence. + +"Do you mean that Burgundy will always be the land of fisticuffs?" asked +Pere Guerbet. + +"That's not ill said," remarked the abbe; "not at all; in fact it's +almost an exact history of our country." + +"I don't know anything about the history of France," blurted Soudry; +"and before I try to learn it, it is more important to me to know why +old Rigou has gone into the Cafe de la Paix with Socquard." + +"Oh!" returned the abbe, "wherever he goes and wherever he stays, you +may be quite certain it is for no charitable purpose." + +"That man gives me goose-flesh whenever I see him," said Madame Vermut. + +"He is so much to be feared," remarked the doctor, "that if he had a +spite against me I should have no peace till he was dead and buried; he +would get out of his coffin to do you an ill-turn." + +"If any one can force the Shopman to come to the fair, and manage to +catch him in a trap, it'll be Rigou," said Soudry to his wife, in a low +tone. + +"Especially," she replied, in a loud one, "if Gaubertin and you, my +love, help him." + +"There! didn't I tell you so?" cried Guerbet, poking the justice of the +peace. "I knew he would find some pretty girl at Socquard's,--there he +is, putting her into his carriage." + +"You are quite wrong, gentlemen," said Madame Soudry; "Monsieur Rigou is +thinking of nothing but the great affair; and if I'm not mistaken, that +girl is only Tonsard's daughter." + +"He is like the chemist who lays in a stock of vipers," said old +Guerbet. + +"One would think you were intimate with Monsieur Vermut to hear you +talk," said the doctor, pointing to the little apothecary, who was then +crossing the square. + +"Poor fellow!" said the poet, who was suspected of occasionally +sharpening his wit with Madame Vermut; "just look at that waddle of his! +and they say he is learned!" + +"Without him," said the justice of the peace, "we should be hard put +to it about post-mortems; he found poison in poor Pigeron's stomach so +cleverly that the chemists of Paris testified in the court at Auxerre +that they couldn't have done better--" + +"He didn't find anything at all," said Soudry; "but, as President +Gendrin says, it is a good thing to let people suppose that poison will +always be found--" + +"Madame Pigeron was very wise to leave Auxerre," said Madame Vermut; +"she was silly and wicked both. As if it were necessary to have recourse +to drugs to annul a husband! Are not there other ways quite as sure, but +innocent, to rid ourselves of that incumbrance? I would like to have +a man dare to question my conduct! The worthy Monsieur Vermut doesn't +hamper me in the least,--but he has never been ill yet. As for Madame +de Montcornet, just see how she walks about the woods and the hermitage +with that journalist whom she brought from Paris at her own expense, and +how she pets him under the very eyes of the general!" + +"At her own expense!" cried Madame Soudry. "Are you sure? If we could +only get proof of it, what a fine subject for an anonymous letter to the +general!" + +"The general!" cried Madame Vermut, "he won't interfere with things; he +plays his part." + +"What part, my dear?" asked Madame Soudry. + +"Oh! the paternal part." + +"If poor little Pigeron had had the wisdom to play it, instead of +harassing his wife, he'd be alive now," said the poet. + +Madame Soudry leaned over to her neighbor, Monsieur Guerbet, and made +one of those apish grimaces which she had inherited from dear mistress, +together with her silver, by right of conquest, and twisting her face +into a series of them she made him look at Madame Vermut, who was +coquetting with the author of "The Cup-and-Ball." + +"What shocking style that woman has! what talk, what manners!" she +said. "I really don't think I can admit her any longer into _our +society_,--especially," she added, "when Monsieur Gourdon, the poet, is +present." + +"There's social morality!" said the abbe, who had heard and observed all +without saying a word. + +After this epigram, or rather, this satire on the company, so true and +so concise that it hit every one, the usual game of boston was proposed. + +Is not this a picture of life as it is at all stages of what we agree to +call society? Change the style, and you will find that nothing more and +nothing less is said in the gilded salons of Paris. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE CAFE DE LA PAIX + + +It was about seven o'clock when Rigou drove by the Cafe de la Paix. The +setting sun, slanting its beams across the little town, was diffusing +its ruddy tints, and the clear mirror of the lake contrasted with the +flashing of the resplendent window-panes, which originated the strangest +and most improbable colors. + +The deep schemer, who had grown pensive as he revolved his plots, let +his horse proceed so slowly that in passing the Cafe de la Paix he +heard his own name banded about in one of those noisy disputes which, +according to the Abbe Taupin, made the name of the establishment a +gain-saying of its customary condition. + +For a clear understanding of the following scene we must explain the +topography of this region of plenty and of misrule, which began with the +cafe on the square, and ended on the country road with the famous Tivoli +where the conspirators proposed to entrap the general. The ground-floor +of the cafe, which stood at the angle of the square and the road, and +was built in the style of Rigou's house, had three windows on the +road and two on the square, the latter being separated by a glass door +through which the house was entered. The cafe had, moreover, a double +door which opened on a side alley that separated it from the neighboring +house (that of Vallet the Soulanges mercer), which led to an inside +courtyard. + +The house, which was painted wholly in yellow, except the blinds, which +were green, is one of the few houses in the little town which has two +stories and an attic. And this is why: Before the astonishing rise in +the prosperity of Ville-aux-Fayes the first floor of this house, which +had four chambers, each containing a bed and the meagre furniture +thought necessary to justify the term "furnished lodgings," was let to +strangers who were obliged to come to Soulanges on matters connected +with the courts, or to visitors who did not sleep at the chateau; but +for the last twenty-five years these rooms had had no other occupants +than the mountebanks, the merchants, the vendors of quack medicines who +came to the fair, or else commercial travellers. During the fair-time +they were let for four francs a day; and brought Socquard about two +hundred and fifty francs, not to speak of the profits on the consumption +of food which the guests took in his cafe. + +The front of the house on the square was adorned with painted signs; on +the spaces that separated the windows from the glass door billiard-cues +were represented, lovingly tied together with ribbons, and above these +bows were depicted smoking bowls of punch, the bowls being in the +form of Greek vases. The words "Cafe de la Paix" were over the door, +brilliantly painted in yellow on a green ground, at each end of which +rose pyramids of tricolored billiard-balls. The window-sashes, painted +green, had small panes of the commonest glass. + +A dozen arbor-vitae, which ought to be called cafe-trees, stood to the +left and right in pots, and presented their usual pretensions and sickly +appearance. Awnings, with which shopkeepers of the large cities protect +their windows from the head of the sun, were as yet an unknown luxury in +Soulanges. The beneficent liquids in the bottles which stood on boards +just behind the window-panes went through a periodic cooking. When the +sun concentrated its rays through the lenticular knobs in the glass it +boiled the Madeira, the syrups, the liqueurs, the preserved plums, +and the cherry-brandy set out for show; for the heat was so great that +Aglae, her father, and the waiter were forced to sit outside on benches +poorly shaded by the wilted shrubs,--which Mademoiselle kept alive with +water that was almost hot. All three, father, daughter, and servant, +might be seen at certain hours of the day stretched out there, fast +asleep, like domestic animals. + +In 1804, the period when "Paul and Virginia" was the rage, the inside +of the cafe was hung with a paper which represented the chief scenes +of that romance. There could be seen Negroes gathering the coffee-crop, +though coffee was seldom seen in the establishment, not twenty cups of +that beverage being served in the month. Colonial products were of so +little account in the consumption of the place that if a stranger had +asked for a cup of chocolate Socquard would have been hard put to it to +serve him. Still, he would have done so with a nauseous brown broth made +from tablets in which there were more flour, crushed almonds, and brown +sugar than pure sugar and cacao, concoctions which were sold at two sous +a cake by village grocers, and manufactured for the purpose of ruining +the sale of the Spanish commodity. + +As for coffee, Pere Socquard simply boiled it in a utensil known to all +such households as the "big brown pot"; he let the dregs (that were half +chicory) settle, and served the decoction, with a coolness worthy of a +Parisian waiter, in a china cup which, if flung to the ground, would not +have cracked. + +At this period the sacred respect felt for sugar under the Emperor was +not yet dispelled in the town of Soulanges, and Aglae Socquard boldly +served three bits of it of the size of hazel-nuts to a foreign merchant +who had rashly asked for the literary beverage. + +The wall decoration of the cafe, relieved by mirrors in gilt frames and +brackets on which the hats were hung, had not been changed since the +days when all Soulanges came to admire the romantic paper, also a +counter painted like mahogany with a Saint-Anne marble top, on which +shone vessels of plated metal and lamps with double-burners, which +were, rumor said, given to the beautiful Madame Socquard by Gaubertin. +A sticky coating of dirt covered everything, like that found on old +pictures put away and long forgotten in a garret. The tables painted to +resemble marble, the benches covered in red Utrecht velvet, the hanging +glass lamp full of oil, which fed two lights, fastened by a chain to +the ceiling and adorned with glass pendants, were the beginning of the +celebrity of the then Cafe de la Guerre. + +There, from 1802 to 1804, all the bourgeois of Soulanges played at +dominoes and a game of cards called "brelan," drank tiny glasses of +liqueur or boiled wine, and ate brandied fruits and biscuits; for the +dearness of colonial products had banished coffee, sugar, and chocolate. +Punch was a great luxury; so was "bavaroise." These infusions were made +with a sugary substance resembling molasses, the name of which is now +lost, but which, at the time, made the fortune of its inventor. + +These succinct details will recall to the memory of all travellers many +others that are analogous; and those persons who have never left Paris +can imagine the ceiling blackened with smoke and the mirrors specked +with millions of spots, showing in what freedom and independence the +whole order of diptera lived in the Cafe de la Paix. + +The beautiful Madame Socquard, whose gallant adventures surpassed those +of the mistress of the Grand-I-Vert, sat there, enthroned, dressed +in the last fashion. She affected the style of a sultana, and wore a +turban. Sultanas, under the Empire, enjoyed a vogue equal to that of the +"angel" of to-day. The whole valley took pattern from the turbans, +the poke-bonnets, the fur caps, the Chinese head-gear of the handsome +Socquard, to whose luxury the big-wigs of Soulanges contributed. With a +waist beneath her arm-pits, after the fashion of our mothers, who were +proud of their imperial graces, Junie (she was named Junie!) made the +fortune of the house of Socquard. Her husband owed to her the ownership +of a vineyard, of the house they lived in, and also the Tivoli. The +father of Monsieur Lupin was said to have committed some follies for +the handsome Madame Socquard; and Gaubertin, who had taken her from him, +certainly owed him the little Bournier. + +These details, together with the deep mystery with which Socquard +manufactured his boiled wine, are sufficient to explain why his name and +that of the Cafe de la Paix were popular; but there were other reasons +for their renown. Nothing better than wine could be got at Tonsard's and +the other taverns in the valley; from Conches to Ville-aux-Fayes, in +a circumference of twenty miles, the Cafe Socquard was the only place +where the guests could play billiards and drink the punch so admirably +concocted by the proprietor. There alone could be found a display of +foreign wines, fine liqueurs, and brandied fruits. Its name resounded +daily throughout the valley, accompanied by ideas of superfine sensual +pleasures such as men whose stomachs are more sensitive than their +hearts dream about. To all these causes of popularity was added that of +being an integral part of the great festival of Soulanges. The Cafe de +la Paix was to the town, in a superior degree, what the tavern of the +Grand-I-Vert was to the peasantry,--a centre of venom; it was the point +of contact and transmission between the gossip of Ville-aux-Fayes and +that of the valley. The Grand-I-Vert supplied the milk and the Cafe +de la Paix the cream, and Tonsard's two daughters were in daily +communication between the two. + +To Socquard's mind the square of Soulanges was merely an appendage to +his cafe. Hercules went from door to door, talking with this one and +that one, and wearing in summer no other garment than a pair of trousers +and a half-buttoned waistcoat. If any one entered the tavern, the +people with whom he gossiped warned him, and he slowly and reluctantly +returned. + +Rigou stopped his horse, and getting out of the chaise, fastened the +bridle to one of the posts near the gate of the Tivoli. Then he made a +pretext to listen to what was going on without being noticed, and placed +himself between two windows through one of which he could, by advancing +his head, see the persons in the room, watch their gestures, and catch +the louder tones which came through the glass of the windows and which +the quiet of the street enabled him to hear. + +"If I were to tell old Rigou that your brother Nicolas is after La +Pechina," cried an angry voice, "and that he waylays her, he'd rip the +entrails out of every one of you,--pack of scoundrels that you are at +the Grand-I-Vert!" + +"If you play me such a trick as that, Aglae," said the shrill voice of +Marie Tonsard, "you sha'n't tell anything more except to the worms in +your coffin. Don't meddle with my brother's business or with mine and +Bonnebault's either." + +Marie, instigated by her grandmother, had, as we see, followed +Bonnebault; she had watched him through the very window where Rigou +was now standing, and had seen him displaying his graces and paying +compliments so agreeable to Mademoiselle Socquard that she was forced to +smile upon him. That smile had brought about the scene in the midst of +which the revelation that interested Rigou came out. + +"Well, well, Pere Rigou, what are you doing here?" said Socquard, +slapping the usurer on the shoulder; he was coming from a barn at the +end of the garden, where he kept various contrivances for the public +games, such as weighing-machines, merry-go-rounds, see-saws, all in +readiness for the Tivoli when opened. Socquard stepped noiselessly, for +he was wearing a pair of those yellow leather-slippers which cost so +little by the gross that they have an enormous sale in the provinces. + +"If you have any fresh lemons, I'd like a glass of lemonade," said +Rigou; "it is a warm evening." + +"Who is making that racket?" said Socquard, looking through the window +and seeing his daughter and Marie Tonsard. + +"They are quarrelling for Bonnebault," said Rigou, sardonically. + +The anger of the father was at once controlled by the interest of the +tavern-keeper. The tavern-keeper judged it prudent to listen outside, +as Rigou was doing; the father was inclined to enter and declare +that Bonnebault, possessed of admirable qualities in the eyes of a +tavern-keeper, had none at all as son-in-law to one of the notables of +Soulanges. And yet Pere Socquard had received but few offers for his +daughter. At twenty-two Aglae already rivalled in size and weight Madame +Vermichel, whose agility seemed phenomenal. Sitting behind a counter +increased the adipose tendency which she derived from her father. + +"What devil is it that gets into girls?" said Socquard to Rigou. + +"Ha!" replied the ex-Benedictine, "of all the devils, that's the one the +Church has most to do with." + +Just then Bonnebault came out of the billiard-room with a cue in his +hand, and struck Marie sharply, saying:-- + +"You've made me miss my stroke; but I'll not miss you, and I'll give it +to you till you muffle that clapper of yours." + +Socquard and Rigou, who now thought it wise to interfere, entered the +cafe by the front door, raising such a crowd of flies that the light +from the windows was obscured; the sound was like that of the distant +practising of a drum-corps. After their first excitement was over, the +big flies with the bluish bellies, accompanied by the stinging little +ones, returned to their quarters in the windows, where on three tiers of +planks, the paint of which was indistinguishable under the fly-specks, +were rows of viscous bottles ranged like soldiers. + +Marie was crying. To be struck before a rival by the man she loves is +one of those humiliations that no woman can endure, no matter what her +place on the social ladder may be; and the lower that place is, the more +violent is the expression of her wrath. The Tonsard girl took no notice +of Rigou or of Socquard; she flung herself on a bench, in gloomy and +sullen silence, which the ex-monk carefully watched. + +"Get a fresh lemon, Aglae," said Pere Socquard, "and go and rinse that +glass yourself." + +"You did right to send her away," whispered Rigou, "or she might have +been hurt"; and he glanced significantly at the hand with which Marie +grasped a stool she had caught up to throw at Aglae's head. + +"Now, Marie," said Socquard, standing before her, "people don't come +here to fling stools; if you were to break one of my mirrors, the milk +of your cows wouldn't pay for the damage." + +"Pere Socquard, your daughter is a reptile; I'm worth a dozen of her, +I'd have you know. If you don't want Bonnebault for a son-in-law, it is +high time for you to tell him to go and play billiards somewhere else; +he's losing a hundred sous every minute." + +In the middle of this flux of words, screamed rather than said, Socquard +took Marie round the waist and flung her out of the door, in spite of +her cries and resistance. It was none too soon; for Bonnebault rushed +out of the billiard-room, his eyes blazing. + +"It sha'n't end so!" cried Marie Tonsard. + +"Begone!" shouted Bonnebault, whom Viollet held back round the body lest +he should do the girl some hurt. "Go to the devil, or I will never speak +to you or look at you again!" + +"You!" said Marie, flinging him a furious glance. "Give me back my +money, and I'll leave you to Mademoiselle Socquard if she is rich enough +to keep you." + +Thereupon Marie, frightened when she saw that even Socquard-Alcides +could scarcely hold Bonnebault, who sprang after her like a tiger, took +to flight along the road. + +Rigou followed, and told her to get into his carriole to escape +Bonnebault, whose shouts reached the hotel Soudry; then, after hiding +Marie under the leather curtains, he came back to the cafe to drink his +lemonade and examine the group it now contained, composed of Plissoud, +Amaury, Viollet, and the waiter, who were all trying to pacify +Bonnebault. + +"Come, hussar, it's your turn to play," said Amaury, a small, fair young +man, with a dull eye. + +"Besides, she's taken herself off," said Viollet. + +If any one ever betrayed astonishment it was Plissoud when he beheld +the usurer of Blangy sitting at one of the tables, and more occupied in +watching him, Plissoud, than in noticing the quarrel that was going on. +In spite of himself, the sheriff allowed his face to show the species +of bewilderment which a man feels at an unexpected meeting with a person +whom he hates and is plotting against, and he speedily withdrew into the +billiard-room. + +"Adieu, Pere Socquard," said Rigou. + +"I'll get your carriage," said the innkeeper; "take your time." + +"How shall I find out what those fellows have been saying over their +pool?" Rigou was asking himself, when he happened to see the waiter's +face in the mirror beside him. + +The waiter was a jack at all trades; he cultivated Socquard's vines, +swept out the cafe and the billiard-room, kept the garden in order, and +watered the Tivoli, all for fifty francs a year. He was always without a +jacket, except on grand occasions; usually his sole garments were a pair +of blue linen trousers, heavy shoes, and a striped velvet waistcoat, +over which he wore an apron of homespun linen when at work in the +cafe or billiard-room. This apron, with strings, was the badge of his +functions. The fellow had been hired by Socquard at the last annual +fair; for in this valley, as throughout Burgundy, servants are hired in +the market-place by the year, exactly as one buys horses. + +"What's your name?" said Rigou. + +"Michel, at your service," replied the waiter. + +"Doesn't old Fourchon come here sometimes?" + +"Two or three times a week, with Monsieur Vermichel, who gives me a +couple of sous to warn him if his wife's after them." + +"He's a fine old fellow, Pere Fourchon; knows a great deal and is full +of good sense," said Rigou, paying for his lemonade and leaving the +evil-smelling place when he saw Pere Socquard leading his horse round. + +Just as he was about to get into the carriage, Rigou noticed the chemist +crossing the square and hailed him with a "Ho, there, Monsieur Vermut!" +Recognizing the rich man, Vermut hurried up. Rigou joined him, and said +in a low voice:-- + +"Are there any drugs that can eat into the tissue of the skin so as to +produce a real disease, like a whitlow on the finger, for instance?" + +"If Monsieur Gourdon would help, yes," answered the little chemist. + +"Vermut, not a word of all this, or you and I will quarrel; but speak of +the matter to Monsieur Gourdon, and tell him to come and see me the day +after to-morrow. I may be able to procure him the delicate operation of +cutting off a forefinger." + +Then, leaving the little man thoroughly bewildered, Rigou got into the +carriole beside Marie Tonsard. + +"Well, you little viper," he said, taking her by the arm when he had +fastened the reins to a hook in front of the leathern apron which closed +the carriole and the horse had started on a trot, "do you think you can +keep Bonnebault by giving way to such violence? If you were a wise girl +you would promote his marriage with that hogshead of stupidity and take +your revenge afterwards." + +Marie could not help smiling as she answered:-- + +"Ah, how bad you are! you are the master of us all in wickedness." + +"Listen to me, Marie; I like the peasants, but it won't do for any one +of you to come between my teeth and a mouthful of game. Your brother +Nicolas, as Aglae said, is after La Pechina. That must not be; I protect +her, that girl. She is to be my heiress for thirty thousand francs, and +I intend to marry her well. I know that Nicolas, helped by your sister +Catherine, came near killing the little thing this morning. You are to +see your brother and sister at once, and say to them: 'If you let La +Pechina alone, Pere Rigou will save Nicolas from the conscription.'" + +"You are the devil incarnate!" cried Marie. "They do say you've signed a +compact with him. Is that true?" + +"Yes," replied Rigou, gravely. + +"I heard it, but I didn't believe it." + +"He has guaranteed that no attacks aimed at me shall hurt me; that I +shall never be robbed; that I shall live a hundred years and succeed +in everything I undertake, and be as young to the day of my death as a +two-year old cockerel--" + +"Well, if that's so," said Marie, "it must be _devilishly_ easy for you +to save my brother from the conscription--" + +"If he chooses, that's to say. He'll have to lose a finger," returned +Rigou. "I'll tell him how." + +"Look out, you are taking the upper road!" exclaimed Marie. + +"I never go by the lower at night," said the ex-monk. + +"On account of the cross?" said Marie, naively. + +"That's it, sly-boots," replied her diabolical companion. + +They had reached a spot where the high-road cuts through a slight +elevation of ground, making on each side of it a rather steep slope, +such as we often see on the mail-roads of France. At the end of +this little gorge, which is about a hundred feet long, the roads to +Ronquerolles and to Cerneux meet and form an open space, in the centre +of which stands a cross. From either slope a man could aim at a victim +and kill him at close quarters, with all the more ease because the +little hill is covered with vines, and the evil-doer could lie in ambush +among the briers and brambles that overgrow them. We can readily imagine +why the usurer did not take that road after dark. The Thune flows round +the little hill; and the place is called the Close of the Cross. No +spot was ever more adapted for revenge or murder, for the road to +Ronquerolles continues to the bridge over the Avonne in front of the +pavilion of the Rendezvous, while that to Cerneux leads off above +the mail-road; so that between the four roads,--to Les Aigues, +Ville-aux-Fayes, Ronquerolles, and Cerneux,--a murderer could choose his +line of retreat and leave his pursuers in uncertainty. + +"I shall drop you at the entrance of the village," said Rigou when they +neared the first houses of Blangy. + +"Because you are afraid of Annette, old coward!" cried Marie. "When +are you going to send her away? you have had her now three years. What +amuses me is that your old woman still lives; the good God knows how to +revenge himself." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE TRIUMVIRATE OF VILLE-AUX-FAYES + + +The cautious usurer compelled his wife and Jean to go to bed and to rise +by daylight; assuring them that the house would never be attacked if he +sat up till midnight, and he never himself rose till late. Not only had +he thus secured himself from interruption between seven at night and +five the next morning but he had accustomed his wife and Jean to respect +his morning sleep and that of Hagar, whose room was directly behind his. + +So, on the following morning, about half past six, Madame Rigou, who +herself took care of the poultry-yard with some assistance from Jean, +knocked timidly at her husband's door. + +"Monsieur Rigou," she said, "you told me to wake you." + +The tones of that voice, the attitude of the woman, her frightened air +as she obeyed an order the execution of which might be ill-received, +showed the utter self-abnegation in which the poor creature lived, and +the affection she still bore to her petty tyrant. + +"Very good," replied Rigou. + +"Shall I wake Annette?" she asked. + +"No, let her sleep; she has been up half the night," he replied, +gravely. + +The man was always grave, even when he allowed himself to jest. Annette +had in fact opened the door secretly to Sibilet, Fourchon, and Catherine +Tonsard, who all came at different hours between eleven and two o'clock. + +Ten minutes later Rigou, dressed with more care than usual, came +downstairs and greeted his wife with a "Good-morning, my old woman," +which made her happier than if counts had knelt at her feet. + +"Jean," he said to the ex-lay-brother, "don't leave the house; if any +one robs me it will be worse for you than for me." + +By thus mingling mildness and severity, hopes and rebuffs, the clever +egoist kept his three slaves faithful and close at his heels, like dogs. + +Taking the upper-road, so-called, to avoid the Close of the Cross, Rigou +reached the square of Soulanges about eight o'clock. + +Just as he was fastening his rein to the post nearest the little door +with three steps, a blind opened and Soudry showed his face, pitted with +the small-pox, which the expression of his small black eyes rendered +crafty. + +"Let's begin by taking a crust here before we start," he said; "we +sha'n't get breakfast at Ville-aux-Fayes before one o'clock." + +Then he softly called a servant-girl, as young and pretty as Annette, +who came down noiselessly, and received his order for ham and bread; +after which he went himself to the cellar and fetched some wine. + +Rigou contemplated for the hundredth time the well-known dining-room, +floored in oak, with stuccoed ceiling and cornice, its high wainscot and +handsome cupboards finely painted, its porcelain stone and magnificent +tall clock,--all the property of Mademoiselle Laguerre. The chair-backs +were in the form of lyres, painted white and highly varnished; the seats +were of green morocco with gilt nails. A massive mahogany table was +covered with green oilcloth, with large squares of a deeper shade of +green, and a plain border of the lighter. The floor, laid in Hungarian +point, was carefully waxed by Urbain and showed the care which +ex-waiting-women know how to exact out of their servants. + +"Bah! it cost too much," thought Rigou for the hundredth time. "I can +eat as good a dinner in my room as here, and I have the income of the +money this useless splendor would have wasted. Where is Madame Soudry?" +he asked, as the mayor returned armed with a venerable bottle. + +"Asleep." + +"And you no longer disturb her slumbers?" said Rigou. + +The ex-gendarme winked with a knowing air, and pointed to the ham which +Jeannette, the pretty maid, was just bringing in. + +"That will pick you up, a pretty bit like that," he said. "It was cured +in the house; we cut into it only yesterday." + +"Where did you find her?" said the ex-Benedictine in Soudry's ear. + +"She is like the ham," replied the ex-gendarme, winking again; "I have +had her only a week." + +Jeannette, still in her night-cap, with a short petticoat and her bare +feet in slippers, had slipped on a bodice made with straps over the arms +in true peasant fashion, over which she had crossed a neckerchief which +did not entirely hide her fresh and youthful attractions, which were at +least as appetizing as the ham she carried. Short and plump, with +bare arms mottled red, ending in large, dimpled hands with short but +well-made fingers, she was a picture of health. The face was that of a +true Burgundian,--ruddy, but white about the temples, throat, and ears; +the hair was chestnut; the corners of the eyes turned up towards the +top of the ears; the nostrils were wide, the mouth sensual, and a little +down lay along the cheeks; all this, together with a jaunty expression, +tempered however by a deceitfully modest attitude, made her the model of +a roguish servant-girl. + +"On my honor, Jeannette is as good as the ham," said Rigou. "If I hadn't +an Annette I should want a Jeannette." + +"One is as good as the other," said the ex-gendarme, "for your Annette +is fair and delicate. How is Madame Rigou,--is she asleep?" added +Soudry, roughly, to let Rigou see he understood his joke. + +"She wakes with the cock, but she goes to roost with the hens," replied +Rigou. "As for me, I sit up and read the 'Constitutionnel.' My wife lets +me sleep at night and in the morning too; she wouldn't come into my room +for all the world." + +"It's just the other way here," replied Jeanette. "Madame sits up with +the company playing cards; sometimes there are sixteen of them in +the salon; Monsieur goes to bed at eight o'clock, and we get up at +daylight--" + +"You think that's different," said Rigou, "but it comes to the same +thing in the end. Well, my dear, you come to me and I'll send Annette +here, and that will be the same thing and different too." + +"Old scamp, you'll make her ashamed," said Soudry. + +"Ha! gendarme; you want your field to yourself! Well, we all get our +happiness where we can find it." + +Jeanette, by her master's order, disappeared to lay out his clothes. + +"You must have promised to marry her when your wife dies," said Rigou. + +"At your age and mine," replied Soudry, "there's no other way." + +"With girls of any ambition it would be one way to become a widower," +added Rigou; "especially if Madame Soudry found fault with Jeannette for +her way of scrubbing the staircase." + +The remark made the two husbands pensive. When Jeannette returned and +announced that all was ready, Soudry said to her, "Come and help me!"--a +precaution which made the ex-monk smile. + +"There's a difference, indeed!" said he. "As for me, I'd leave you alone +with Annette, my good friend." + +A quarter of an hour later Soudry, in his best clothes, got into the +wicker carriage, and the two friends drove round the lake of Soulanges +to Ville-aux-Fayes. + +"Look at it!" said Rigou, as they reached an eminence from which the +chateau of Soulanges could be seen in profile. + +The old revolutionary put into the tone of his words all the hatred +which the rural middle classes feel to the great chateaux and the great +estates. + +"Yes, but I hope it will never be destroyed as long as I live," said +Soudry. "The Comte de Soulanges was my general; he did me kindness; he +got my pension, and he allows Lupin to manage the estate. After Lupin +some of us will have it, and as long as the Soulanges family exists they +and their property will be respected. Such folks are large-minded; they +let every one make his profit, and they find it pays." + +"Yes, but the Comte de Soulanges has three children, who, at his death, +may not agree," replied Rigou. "The husband of his daughter and his +sons may go to law, and end by selling the lead and iron mines to +manufacturers, from whom we shall manage to get them back." + +The chateau just then showed up in profile, as if to defy the ex-monk. + +"Ah! look at it; in those days they built well," cried Soudry. "But +just now Monsieur le Comte is economizing, so as to make Soulanges the +entailed estate of his peerage." + +"My dear friend," said Rigou, "entailed estates won't exist much +longer." + +When the topic of public matters was exhausted, the worthy pair began to +discuss the merits of their pretty maids in terms too Burgundian to be +printed here. That inexhaustible subject carried them so far that before +they knew it they saw the capital of the arrondissement over which +Gaubertin reigned, and which we hope excites enough curiosity in the +reader's mind to justify a short digression. + +The name of Ville-aux-Fayes, singular as it is, is explained as the +corruption of the words (in low Latin) "Villa in Fago,"--the manor of +the woods. This name indicates that a forest once covered the delta +formed by the Avonne before it joins its confluent the Yonne. Some Frank +doubtless built a fortress on the hill which slopes gently to the long +plain. The savage conqueror separated his vantage-ground from the +delta by a wide and deep moat and made the position a formidable one, +essentially seignorial, convenient for enforcing tolls across the +bridges and for protecting his rights of profit on all grains ground in +the mills. + +That is the history of the beginning of Ville-aux-Fayes. Wherever feudal +or ecclesiastical dominion established there we find gathered together +interests, inhabitants, and, later, towns when the localities were in a +position to maintain them and to found and develop great industries. +The method of floating timber discovered by Jean Rouvet in 1549, which +required certain convenient stations to intercept it, was the making +of Ville-aux-Fayes, which, up to that time, had been, compared to +Soulanges, a mere village. Ville-aux-Fayes became a storage place for +timber, which covered the shores of the two rivers for a distance of +over thirty miles. The work of taking out of the water, computing the +lost logs, and making the rafts which the Yonne carried down to the +Seine, brought together a large concourse of workmen. Such a population +increased consumption and encouraged trade. Thus Ville-aux-Fayes, which +had but six hundred inhabitants at the end of the seventeenth century, +had two thousand in 1790, and Gaubertin had now raised the number to +four thousand, by the following means. + +When the legislative assembly decreed the new laying out of territory, +Ville-aux-Fayes, which was situated where, geographically, a +sub-prefecture was needed, was chosen instead of Soulanges as chief town +or capital of the arrondissement. The increased population of Paris, +by increasing the demand for and the value of wood as fuel, necessarily +increased the commerce of Ville-aux-Fayes. Gaubertin had founded +his fortune, after losing his stewardship, on this growing business, +estimating the effect of peace on the population of Paris, which did +actually increase by over one-third between 1815 and 1825. + +The shape of Ville-aux-Fayes followed the conformation of the ground. +Each side of the promontory was lined with wharves. The dam to stop the +timber from floating further down was just below a hill covered by the +forest of Soulanges. Between the dam and the town lay a suburb. The +lower town, covering the greater part of the delta, came down to the +shores of the lake of the Avonne. + +Above the lower town some five hundred houses with gardens, standing +on the heights, were grouped round three sides of the promontory, and +enjoyed the varied scene of the diamond waters of the lake, the rafts in +construction along its edge, and the piles of wood upon the shores. The +waters, laden with timber from the river and the rapids which fed the +mill-races and the sluices of a few manufactories, presented an animated +scene, all the more charming because inclosed in the greenery of +forests, while the long valley of Les Aigues offered a glorious contrast +to the dark foil of the heights above the town itself. + +Gaubertin had built himself a house on the level of the delta, intending +to make a place which should improve the locality and render the lower +town as desirable as the upper. It was a modern house built of stone, +with a balcony of iron railings, outside blinds, painted windows, and +no ornament but a line of fret-work under the eaves, a slate roof, +one story in height with a garret, a fine courtyard, and behind it an +English garden bathed by the waters of the Avonne. The elegance of the +place compelled the department to build a fine edifice nearly opposite +to it for the sub-prefecture, provisionally lodged in a mere kennel. +The town itself also built a town-hall. The law-courts had lately been +installed in a new edifice; so that Ville-aux-Fayes owed to the active +influence of its present mayor a number of really imposing public +buildings. The gendarmerie had also built barracks which completed the +square formed by the marketplace. + +These changes, on which the inhabitants prided themselves, were due to +the impetus given by Gaubertin, who within a day or two had received the +cross of the Legion of honor, in anticipation of the coming birthday +of the king. In a town so situated and so modern there was of course, +neither aristocracy nor nobility. Consequently, the rich merchants of +Ville-aux-Fayes, proud of their own independence, willingly espoused the +cause of the peasantry against a count of the Empire who had taken sides +with the Restoration. To them the oppressors were the oppressed. The +spirit of this commercial town was so well known to the government that +they send there as sub-prefect a man with a conciliatory temper, a pupil +of his uncle, the well-known des Lupeaulx, one of those men, accustomed +to compromise, who are familiar with the difficulties and necessities +of administration, but whom puritan politicians, doing infinitely worse +things, call corrupt. + +The interior of Gaubertin's house was decorated with the unmeaning +commonplaces of modern luxury. Rich papers with gold borders, bronze +chandeliers, mahogany furniture of a new pattern, astral lamps, round +tables with marble tops, white china with gilt lines for dessert, red +morocco chairs and mezzo-tint engravings in the dining-room, and +blue cashmere furniture in the salon,--all details of a chilling and +perfectly unmeaning character, but which to the eyes of Ville-aux-Fayes +seemed the last efforts of Sardanapalian luxury. Madame Gaubertin played +the role of elegance with great effect; she assumed little airs and +was lackadaisical at forty-five years of age, as though certain of the +homage of her court. + +We ask those who really know France, if these houses--those of Rigou, +Soudry, and Gaubertin--are not a perfect presentation of the village, +the little town, and the seat of a sub-prefecture? + +Without being a man of mind, or a man of talent, Gaubertin had the +appearance of being both. He owed the accuracy of his perception and his +consummate art to an extreme keenness after gain. He desired wealth, not +for his wife, not for his children, not for himself, not for his family, +not for the reputation that money gives; after the gratification of his +revenge (the hope of which kept him alive) he loved the touch of money, +like Nucingen, who, it was said, kept fingering the gold in his pockets. +The rush of business was Gaubertin's wine; and though he had his belly +full of it, he had all the eagerness of one who was empty. As with +valets of the drama, intrigues, tricks to play, mischief to organize, +deceptions, commercial over-reachings, accounts to render and receive, +disputes, and quarrels of self-interest, exhilarated him, kept his +blood in circulation, and his bile flowing. He went and came on foot, +on horseback, in a carriage, by water; he was at all auctions and timber +sales in Paris, thinking of everything, keeping hundreds of wires in his +hands and never getting them tangled. + +Quick, decided in his movements as in his ideas, short and squat in +figure, with a thin nose, a fiery eye, an ear on the "qui vive," there +was something of the hunting-dog about him. His brown face, very round +and sunburned, from which the tanned ears stood out predominantly,--for +he always wore a cap,--was in keeping with that character. His nose +turned up; his tightly-closed lips could never have opened to say a +kindly thing. His bushy whiskers formed a pair of black and shiny tufts +beneath the highly-colored cheek-bones, and were lost in his cravat. +Hair that was pepper-and-salt in color and frizzled naturally in stages +like those of a judge's wig, seeming scorched by the fury of the fire +which heated his brown skull and gleamed in his gray eyes surrounded +by circular wrinkles (no doubt from a habit of always blinking when +he looked across the country in full sunlight), completed the +characteristics of his physiognomy. His lean and vigorous hands were +hairy, knobbed, and claw-like, like those of men who do their share of +labor. His personality was agreeable to those with whom he had to do, +for he wrapped it in a misleading gayety; he knew how to talk a great +deal without saying a word of what he meant to keep unsaid. He wrote +little, so as to deny anything that escaped him which might prove +unfavorable in its after effects upon his interests. His books and +papers were kept by a cashier,--an honest man, whom men of Gaubertin's +stamp always seek to get hold of, and whom they make, in their own +selfish interests, their first dupe. + +When Rigou's little green chaise appeared, towards twelve o'clock, in +the broad avenue which skirts the river, Gaubertin, in cap, boots, and +jacket, was returning from the wharves. He hastened his steps,--feeling +very sure that Rigou's object in coming over could only be "the great +affair." + +"Good morning, gendarme; good morning, paunch of gall and wisdom," he +said, giving a little slap to the stomachs of his two visitors. "We have +business to talk over, and, faith! we'll do it glass in hand; that's the +true way to take things." + +"If you do your business that way, you ought to be fatter than you are," +said Rigou. + +"I work too hard; I'm not like you two, confined to the house and +bewitched there, like old dotards. Well, well, after all that's the best +way; you can do your business comfortably in an arm-chair, with your +back to the fire and your belly at table; custom goes to you, I have to +go after it. But now, come in, come in! the house is yours for the time +you stay." + +A servant, in blue livery edged with scarlet, took the horse by the +bridle and led him into the courtyard, where were the offices and the +stable. + +Gaubertin left his guests to walk about the garden for a moment, while +he went to give his orders and arrange about the breakfast. + +"Well, my wolves," he said, as he returned, rubbing his hands, "the +gendarmerie of Soulanges were seen this morning at daybreak, marching +towards Conches; no doubt they mean to arrest the peasants for +depredations; ha, ha! things are getting warm, warm! By this time," he +added, looking at his watch, "those fellows may have been arrested." + +"Probably," said Rigou. + +"Well, what do you all say over there? Has anything been decided?" + +"What is there to decide?" asked Rigou. "We have no part in it," he +added, looking at Soudry. + +"How do you mean nothing to decide? If Les Aigues is sold as the result +of our coalition, who is to gain five or six hundred thousand francs +out of it? Do you expect me to, all alone? No, my inside is not strong +enough to split up two millions, with three children to establish, and a +wife who hasn't the first idea about the value of money; no, I must have +associates. Here's the gendarme, he has plenty of funds all ready. I +know he doesn't hold a single mortgage that isn't ready to mature; he +only lends now on notes at sight of which I endorse. I'll go into this +thing by the amount of eight hundred thousand francs; my son, the +judge, two hundred thousand; and I count on the gendarme for two hundred +thousand more; now, how much will you put in, skull-cap?" + +"All the rest," replied Rigou, stiffly. + +"The devil! well, I wish I had my hand where your heart is!" exclaimed +Gaubertin. "Now what are you going to do?" + +"Whatever you do; tell your plan." + +"My plan," said Gaubertin, "is to take double, and sell half to the +Conches, and Cerneux, and Blangy folks who want to buy. Soudry has his +clients, and you yours, and I, mine. That's not the difficulty. The +thing is, how are we going to arrange among ourselves? How shall we +divide up the great lots?" + +"Nothing easier," said Rigou. "We'll each take what we like best. I, +for one, shall stand in nobody's way; I'll take the woods in common with +Soudry and my son-in-law; the timber has been so injured that you won't +care for it now, and you may have all the rest. Faith, it is worth the +money you'll put into it!" + +"Will you sign that agreement?" said Soudry. + +"A written agreement is worth nothing," replied Gaubertin. "Besides, you +know I am playing above board; I have perfect confidence in Rigou, and +he shall be the purchaser." + +"That will satisfy me," said Rigou. + +"I will make only one condition," added Gaubertin. "I must have the +pavilion of the Rendezvous, with all its appurtenances, and fifty acres +of the surrounding land. I shall make it my country-house, and it shall +be near my woods. Madame Gaubertin--Madame Isaure, for that's what she +wants people to call her--says she shall make it her villa." + +"I'm willing," said Rigou. + +"Well, now, between ourselves," continued Gaubertin, after looking about +him on all sides and making sure that no one could overhear him, "do you +think they are capable of striking a blow?" + +"Such as?" asked Rigou, who never allowed himself to understand a hint. + +"Well, if the worst of the band, the best shot, sent a ball whistling +round the ears of the count--just to frighten him?" + +"He's a man to rush at an assailant and collar him." + +"Michaud, then." + +"Michaud would do nothing at the moment, but he'd watch and spy till he +found out the man and those who instigated him." + +"You are right," said Gaubertin; "those peasants must make a riot and +a few must be sent to the galleys. Well, so much the better for us; the +authorities will catch the worst, whom we shall want to get rid of after +they've done the work. There are those blackguards, the Tonsards and +Bonnebault--" + +"Tonsard is ready for mischief," said Soudry, "I know that; and we'll +work him up by Vaudoyer and Courtecuisse." + +"I'll answer for Courtecuisse," said Rigou. + +"And I hold Vaudoyer in the hollow of my hand." + +"Be cautious!" said Rigou; "before everything else be cautious." + +"Now, papa skull-cap, do you mean to tell me that there's any harm +in speaking of things as they are? Is it we who are indicting and +arresting, or gleaning or depredating? If Monsieur le comte knows what +he's about and leases the woods to the receiver-general it is all up +with our schemes,--'Farewell baskets, the vintage is o'er'; in that case +you will lose more than I. What we say here is between ourselves and +for ourselves; for I certainly wouldn't say a word to Vaudoyer that I +couldn't repeat to God and man. But it is not forbidden, I suppose, to +profit by any events that may take place. The peasantry of this canton +are hot-headed; the general's exactions, his severity, Michaud's +persecutions, and those of his keepers have exasperated them; to-day +things have come to a crisis and I'll bet there's a rumpus going on now +with the gendarmerie. And so, let's go and breakfast." + +Madame Gaubertin came into the garden just then. She was a rather fair +woman with long curls, called English, hanging down her cheeks, who +played the style of sentimental virtue, pretended never to have +known love, talked platonics to all the men about her, and kept the +prosecuting-attorney at her beck and call. She was given to caps with +large bows, but preferred to wear only her hair. She danced, and at +forty-five years of age had the mincing manner of a girl; her feet, +however, were large and her hands frightful. She wished to be called +Isaure, because among her other oddities and absurdities she had the +taste to repudiate the name of Gaubertin as vulgar. Her eyes were light +and her hair of an undecided color, something like dirty nankeen. Such +as she was, she was taken as a model by a number of young ladies, who +stabbed the skies with their glances, and posed as angels. + +"Well, gentlemen," she said, bowing, "I have some strange news for you. +The gendarmerie have returned." + +"Did they make any prisoners?" + +"None; the general, it seems, had previously obtained the pardon of +the depredators. It was given in honor of this happy anniversary of the +king's restoration to France." + +The three associates looked at each other. + +"He is cleverer than I thought for, that big cuirassier!" said +Gaubertin. "Well, come to breakfast. After all, the game is not lost, +only postponed; it is your affair now, Rigou." + +Soudry and Rigou drove back disappointed, not being able as yet to plan +any other catastrophe to serve their ends and relying, as Gaubertin +advised, on what might turn up. Like certain Jacobins at the outset of +the Revolution who were furious with Louis XVI.'s conciliations, and +who provoked severe measures at court in the hope of producing anarchy, +which to them meant fortune and power, the formidable enemies of General +Montcornet staked their present hopes on the severity which Michaud and +his keepers were likely to employ against future depredators. +Gaubertin promised them his assistance, without explaining who were his +co-operators, for he did not wish them to know about his relations with +Sibilet. Nothing can equal the prudence of a man of Gaubertin's stamp, +unless it be that of an ex-gendarme or an unfrocked priest. This plot +could not have been brought to a successful issue,--a successfully +evil issue,--unless by three such men as these, steeped in hatred and +self-interest. + + + + +CHAPTER V. VICTORY WITHOUT A FIGHT + + +Madame Michaud's fears were the effect of that second sight which +comes of true passion. Exclusively absorbed by one only being, the soul +finally grasps the whole moral world which surrounds that being; it +sees clearly. A woman when she loves feels the same presentiments which +disquiet her later when a mother. + +While the poor young woman listened to the confused voices coming from +afar across an unknown space, a scene was really happening in the tavern +of the Grand-I-Vert which threatened her husband's life. + +About five o'clock that morning early risers had seen the gendarmerie of +Soulanges on its way to Conches. The news circulated rapidly; and those +whom it chiefly interested were much surprised to learn from others, who +lived on high ground, that a detachment commanded by the lieutenant of +Ville-aux-Fayes had marched through the forest of Les Aigues. As it was +a Monday, there were already good reasons why the peasants should be +at the tavern; but it was also the eve of the anniversary of the +restoration of the Bourbons, and though the frequenters of Tonsard's +den had no need of that "august cause" (as they said in those days) to +explain their presence at the Grand-I-Vert, they did not fail to make +the most of it if the mere shadow of an official functionary appeared. + +Vaudoyer, Courtecuisse, Tonsard and his family, Godain, and an old +vine-dresser named Laroche, were there early in the morning. The latter +was a man who scratched a living from day to day; he was one of the +delinquents collected in Blangy under the sort of subscription invented +by Sibilet and Courtecuisse to disgust the general by the results of +his indictments. Blangy had supplied three men, twelve women, also eight +girls and five boys for whom parent were answerable, all of whom were in +a condition of pauperism; but they were the only ones who could be +found that were so. The year 1823 had been a very profitable one to the +peasantry, and 1826 as likely, through the enormous quantity of wine +yielded, to bring them in a good deal of money; add to this the works at +Les Aigues, undertaken by the general, which had put a great deal more +in circulation throughout the three districts which bordered on the +estate. It had therefore been quite difficult to find in Blangy, +Conches, and Cerneux, one hundred and twenty indigent persons against +whom to bring the suits; and in order to do so, they had taken old +women, mothers, and grandmothers of those who owned property but who +possessed nothing of their own, like Tonsard's mother. Laroche, an +old laborer, possessed absolutely nothing; he was not, like Tonsard, +hot-blooded and vicious,--his motive power was a cold, dull hatred; he +toiled in silence with a sullen face; work was intolerable to him, but +he had to work to live; his features were hard and their expression +repulsive. Though sixty years old, he was still strong, except that his +back was bent; he saw no future before him, no spot that he could call +his own, and he envied those who possessed the land; for this reason +he had no pity on the forests of Les Aigues, and took pleasure in +despoiling them uselessly. + +"Will they be allowed to put us in prison?" he was saying. "After +Conches they'll come to Blangy. I'm an old offender, and I shall get +three months." + +"What can we do against the gendarmerie, old drunkard?" said Vaudoyer. + +"Why! cut the legs of their horses with our scythes. That'll bring them +down; their muskets are not loaded, and when they find us ten to one +against them they'll decamp. If the three villages all rose and killed +two or three gendarmes, they couldn't guillotine the whole of us. They'd +have to give way, as they did on the other side of Burgundy, where they +sent a regiment. Bah! that regiment came back again, and the peasants +cut the woods just as much as they ever did." + +"If we kill," said Vaudoyer; "it is better to kill one man; the question +is, how to do it without danger and frighten those Arminacs so that +they'll be driven out of the place." + +"Which one shall we kill?" asked Laroche. + +"Michaud," said Courtecuisse. "Vaudoyer is right, he's perfectly right. +You'll see that when a keeper is sent to the shades there won't be one +of them willing to stay even in broad daylight to watch us. Now they're +there night and day,--demons!" + +"Wherever one goes," said old Mother Tonsard,--who was seventy-eight +years old, and presented a parchment face honey-combed with the +small-pox, lighted by a pair of green eyes, and framed with dirty-white +hair, which escaped in strands from a red handkerchief,--"wherever +one goes, there they are! they stop us, they open our bundles, and if +there's a single branch, a single twig of a miserable hazel, they seize +the whole bundle, and they say they'll arrest us. Ha, the villains! +there's no deceiving them; if they suspect you, you've got to undo the +bundle. Dogs! all three are not worth a farthing! Yes, kill 'em, and it +won't ruin France, I tell you." + +"Little Vatel is not so bad," said Madame Tonsard. + +"He!" said Laroche, "he does his business, like the others; when there's +a joke going he'll joke with you, but you are none the better with +him for that. He's worse than the rest,--heartless to poor folks, like +Michaud himself." + +"Michaud has got a pretty wife, though," said Nicolas Tonsard. + +"She's with young," said the old woman; "and if this thing goes on +there'll be a queer kind of baptism for the little one when she calves." + +"Oh! those Arminacs!" cried Marie Tonsard; "there's no laughing with +them; and if you did, they'd threaten to arrest you." + +"You've tried your hand at cajoling them, have you?" said Courtecuisse. + +"You may bet on that." + +"Well," said Tonsard with a determined air, "they are men like other +men, and they can be got rid of." + +"But I tell you," said Marie, continuing her topic, "they won't be +cajoled; I don't know what's the matter with them; that bully at the +pavilion, he's married, but Vatel, Gaillard, and Steingel are not; +they've not a woman belonging to them; indeed, there's not a woman in +the place who would marry them." + +"Well, we shall see how things go at the harvest and the vintage," said +Tonsard. + +"They can't stop the gleaning," said the old woman. + +"I don't know that," remarked Madame Tonsard. "Groison said that the +mayor was going to publish a notice that no one should glean without a +certificate of pauperism; and who's to give that certificate? Himself, +of course. He won't give many, I tell you! And they say he is going to +issue an order that no one shall enter the fields till the carts are all +loaded." + +"Why, the fellow's a pestilence!" cried Tonsard, beside himself with +rage. + +"I heard that only yesterday," said Madame Tonsard. "I offered Groison a +glass of brandy to get something out of him." + +"Groison! there's another lucky fellow!" said Vaudoyer, "they've built +him a house and given him a good wife, and he's got an income and +clothes fit for a king. There was I, field-keeper for twenty years, and +all I got was the rheumatism." + +"Yes, he's very lucky," said Godain, "he owns property--" + +"And we go without, like the fools that we are," said Vaudoyer. "Come, +let's be off and find out what's going on at Conches; they are not so +patient over there as we are." + +"Come on," said Laroche, who was none too steady on his legs. "If I +don't exterminate one of two of those fellows may I lose my name." + +"You!" said Tonsard, "you'd let them put the whole district in prison; +but I--if they dare to touch my old mother, there's my gun and it never +misses." + +"Well," said Laroche to Vaudoyer, "I tell you that if they make a single +prisoner at Conches one gendarme shall fall." + +"He has said it, old Laroche!" cried Courtecuisse. + +"He has said it," remarked Vaudoyer, "but he hasn't done it, and he +won't do it. What good would it do to get yourself guillotined for some +gendarme or other? No, if you kill, I say, kill Michaud." + +During this scene Catherine Tonsard stood sentinel at the door to +warn the drinkers to keep silent if any one passed. In spite of their +half-drunken legs they sprang rather than walked out of the tavern, +and their bellicose temper started them at a good pace on the road to +Conches, which led for over a mile along the park wall of Les Aigues. + +Conches was a true Burgundian village, with one street, which was +crossed by the main road. The houses were built either of brick or of +cobblestones, and were squalid in aspect. Following the mail-road +from Ville-aux-Fayes, the village was seen from the rear and there +it presented rather a picturesque effect. Between the road and the +Ronquerolles woods, which continued those of Les Aigues and crowned +the heights, flowed a little river, and several houses, rather prettily +grouped, enlivened the scene. The church and the parsonage stood alone +and were seen from the park of Les Aigues, which came nearly up to +them. In front of the church was a square bordered by trees, where the +conspirators of the Grand-I-Vert saw the gendarmerie and hastened their +already hasty steps. Just then three men on horseback rode rapidly +out of the park of Les Aigues and the peasants at once recognized the +general, his groom, and Michaud the bailiff, who came at a gallop into +the square. Tonsard and his party arrived a minute or two after them. +The delinquents, men and women, had made no resistance, and were +standing between five of the Soulanges gendarmes and fifteen of those +from Ville-aux-Fayes. The whole village had assembled. The fathers, +mothers, and children of the prisoners were going and coming and +bringing them what they might want in prison. It was a curious scene, +that of a population one and all exasperated, but nearly all silent, as +though they had made up their minds to a course of action. The old +women and the young ones alone spoke. The children, boys and girls, were +perched on piles of wood and heaps of stones to get a better sight of +what was happening. + +"They have chosen their time, those hussars of the guillotine," said one +old woman; "they are making a fete of it." + +"Are you going to let 'em carry of your man like that? How shall you +manage to live for three months?--the best of the year, too, when he +could earn so much." + +"It's they who rob us," replied the woman, looking at the gendarmes with +a threatening air. + +"What do you mean by that, old woman?" said the sergeant. "If you insult +us it won't take long to settle you." + +"I meant nothing," said the old woman, in a humble and piteous tone. + +"I heard you say something just now you may have cause to repent of." + +"Come, come, be calm, all of you," said the mayor of Conches, who was +also the postmaster. "What the devil is the use of talking? These men, +as you know very well, are under orders and must obey." + +"That's true; it's the owner of Les Aigues who persecutes us--But +patience!" + +Just then the general rode into the square and his arrival caused a few +groans which did not trouble him in the least. He rode straight up +to the lieutenant in command, and after saying a few words gave him +a paper; the officer then turned to his men and said: "Release your +prisoners; the general has obtained their pardon." + +General Montcornet was then speaking to the mayor; after a few moments' +conversation in a low tone, the latter, addressing the delinquents, +who expected to sleep in prison and were a good deal surprised to find +themselves free, said to them:-- + +"My friends, thank Monsieur le comte. You owe your release to him. He +went to Paris and obtained your pardon in honor of the anniversary of +the king's restoration. I hope that in future you will conduct yourself +properly to a man who has behaved so well to you, and that you will in +future respect his property. Long live the King!" + +The peasants shouted "Long live the King!" with enthusiasm, to avoid +shouting, "Hurrah for the Comte de Montcornet!" + +The scene was a bit of policy arranged between the general, the prefect, +and the attorney-general; for they were all anxious, while showing +enough firmness to keep the local authorities up to their duty and awe +the country-people, to be as gentle as possible, fully realizing as +they did the difficulties of the question. In fact, if resistance had +occurred, the government would have been in a tight place. As Laroche +truly said, they could not guillotine or even convict a whole community. + +The general invited the mayor of Conches, the lieutenant, and the +sergeant to breakfast. The conspirators of the Grand-I-Vert adjourned +to the tavern of Conches, where the delinquents spent in drink the money +their relations had given them to take to prison, sharing it with +the Blangy people, who were naturally part of the wedding,--the word +"wedding" being applied indiscriminately in Burgundy to all such +rejoicings. To drink, quarrel, fight, eat and go home drunk and +sick,--that is a wedding to these peasants. + +The general, who had come by the park, took his guests back through the +forest that they might see for themselves the injury done to the timber, +and so judge of the importance of the question. + +Just as Rigou and Soudry were on their way back to Blangy, the count and +countess, Emile Blondet, the lieutenant of gendarmerie, the sergeant, +and the mayor of Conches were finishing their breakfast in the splendid +dining-room where Bouret's luxury had left the delightful traces already +described by Blondet in his letter to Nathan. + +"It would be a terrible pity to abandon this beautiful home," said +the lieutenant, who had never before been at Les Aigues, and who was +glancing over a glass of champagne at the circling nymphs that supported +the ceiling. + +"We intend to defend it to the death," said Blondet. + +"If I say that," continued the lieutenant, looking at his sergeant as +if to enjoin silence, "it is because the general's enemies are not only +among the peasantry--" + +The worthy man was quite moved by the excellence of the breakfast, the +magnificence of the silver service, the imperial luxury that surrounded +him, and Blondet's clever talk excited him as much as the champagne he +had imbibed. + +"Enemies! have I enemies?" said the general, surprised. + +"He, so kind!" added the countess. + +"But you are on bad terms with our mayor, Monsieur Gaubertin," said +the lieutenant. "It would be wise, for the sake of the future, to be +reconciled with him." + +"With him!" cried the count. "Then you don't know that he was my former +steward, and a swindler!" + +"A swindler no longer," said the lieutenant, "for he is mayor of +Ville-aux-Fayes." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed Blondet, "the lieutenant's wit is keen; evidently a +mayor is essentially an honest man." + +The lieutenant, convinced by the count's words that it was useless +to attempt to enlighten him, said no more on that subject, and the +conversation changed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE FOREST AND THE HARVEST + + +The scene at Conches had, apparently, a good effect on the peasantry; +on the other hand, the count's faithful keepers were more than ever +watchful that only dead wood should be gathered in the forest of Les +Aigues. But for the last twenty years the woods had been so thoroughly +cleared out that very little else than live wood was now there; and this +the peasantry set about killing, in preparation for winter, by a simple +process, the results of which could only be discovered in the course of +time. Tonsard's mother went daily into the forest; the keepers saw her +enter; knew where she would come out; watched for her and made her open +her bundle, where, to be sure, were only fallen branches, dried chips, +and broken and withered twigs. The old woman would whine and complain at +the distance she had to go at her age to gather such a miserable bunch +of fagots. But she did not tell that she had been in the thickest part +of the wood and had removed the earth at the base of certain young +trees, round which she had then cut off a ring of bark, replacing the +earth, moss, and dead leaves just as they were before she touched them. +It was impossible that any one could discover this annular incision, +made, not like a cut, but more like the ripping or gnawing of animals or +those destructive insects called in different regions borers, or +turks, or white worms, which are the first stage of cockchafers. These +destructive pests are fond of the bark of trees; they get between the +bark and the sap-wood and eat their way round. If the tree is large +enough for the insect to pass into its second state (of larvae, in which +it remains dormant until its second metamorphose) before it has gone +round the trunk, the tree lives, because so long as even a small bit of +the sap-wood remains covered by the bark, the tree will still grow +and recover itself. To realize to what a degree entomology affects +agriculture, horticulture, and all earth products, we must know that +naturalists like Latreille, the Comte Dejean, Klugg of Berlin, Gene of +Turin, etc., find that the vast majority of all known insects live at +the sacrifice of vegetation; that the coleoptera (a catalogue of which +has lately been published by Monsieur Dejean) have twenty-seven thousand +species, and that, in spite of the most earnest research on the part of +entomologists of all countries, there is an enormous number of species +of whom they cannot trace the triple transformations which belong to +all insects; that there is, in short, not only a special insect to +every plant, but that all terrestrial products, however much they may +be manipulated by human industry, have their particular parasite. Thus +flax, after covering the human body and hanging the human being, after +roaming the world on the back of an army, becomes writing-paper; and +those who write or who read are familiar with the habits and morals +of an insect called the "paper-louse," an insect of really marvellous +celerity and behavior; it undergoes its mysterious transformations in +a ream of white paper which you have carefully put away; you see +it gliding and frisking along in its shining robe, that looks like +isinglass or mica,--truly a little fish of another element. + +The borer is the despair of the land-owner; he works underground; +no Sicilian vespers for him until he becomes a cockchafer! If the +populations only realized with what untold disasters they are threatened +in case they let the cockchafers and the caterpillars get the +upper hand, they would pay more attention than they do to municipal +regulations. + +Holland came near perishing; its dikes were undermined by the teredo, +and science is unable to discover the insect from which that mollusk +derives, just as science still remains ignorant of the metamorphoses of +the cochineal. The ergot, or spur, of rye is apparently a population of +insects where the genius of science has been able, so far, to discover +only one slight movement. Thus, while awaiting the harvest and gleaning, +fifty old women imitated the borer at the feet of five or six hundred +trees which were fated to become skeletons and to put forth no more +leaves in the spring. They were carefully chosen in the least accessible +places, so that the surrounding branches concealed them. + +Who conveyed the secret information by which this was done? No one. +Courtecuisse happened to complain in Tonsard's tavern of having found a +tree wilting in his garden; it seemed he said, to have a disease, and he +suspected a borer; for he, Courtecuisse, knew what borers were, and if +they once circled a tree just below the ground, the tree died. Thereupon +he explained the process. The old women at once set to work at the +same destruction, with the mystery and cleverness of gnomes; and their +efforts were doubled by the rules now enforced by the mayor of Blangy +and necessarily followed by the mayors of the adjoining districts. + +The great land-owners of the department applauded General de +Montcornet's course; and the prefect in his private drawing-room +declared that if, instead of living in Paris, other land-owners would +come and live on their estates and follow such a course together, a +solution of the difficulty could be obtained; for certain measures, +added the prefect, ought to be taken, and taken in concert, modified by +benefactions and by an enlightened philanthropy, such as every one could +see actuated in General Montcornet. + +The general and his wife, assisted by the abbe, tried the effects of +such benevolence. They studied the subject, and endeavored to show by +incontestable results to those who pillaged them that more money +could be made by legitimate toil. They supplied flax and paid for the +spinning; the countess had the thread woven into linen suitable +for towels, aprons, and coarse napkins for kitchen use, and for +underclothing for the very poor. The general began improvements which +needed many laborers, and he employed none but those in the adjoining +districts. Sibilet was in charge of the works and the Abbe Brossette +gave the countess lists of the most needy, and often brought them to her +himself. Madame de Montcornet attended to these matters personally in +the great antechamber which opened upon the portico. It was a beautiful +waiting-room, floored with squares of white and red marble, warmed by a +porcelain stove, and furnished with benches covered with red plush. + +It was there that one morning, just before harvest, old Mother Tonsard +brought her granddaughter Catherine, who had to make, she said, a +dreadful confession,--dreadful for the honor of a poor but honest +family. While the old woman addressed the countess Catherine stood in +an attitude of conscious guilt. Then she related on her own account the +unfortunate "situation" in which she was placed, which she had confided +to none but her grandmother; for her mother, she knew, would turn her +out, and her father, an honorable man, might kill her. If she only had a +thousand francs she could be married to a poor laborer named Godain, who +_knew all_, and who loved her like a brother; he could buy a poor bit +of ground and build a cottage if she had that sum. It was very touching. +The countess promised the money; resolving to devote the price of some +fancy to this marriage. The happy marriages of Michaud and Groison +encouraged her. Besides, such a wedding would be a good example to +the people of the neighborhood and stimulate to virtuous conduct. The +marriage of Catherine Tonsard and Godain was accordingly arranged by +means of the countess's thousand francs. + +Another time a horrible old woman, Mother Bonnebault, who lived in a hut +between the gate of Conches and the village, brought back a great bundle +of skeins of linen thread. + +"Madame la comtesse has done wonders," said the abbe, full of hope as to +the moral progress of his savages. "That old woman did immense damage to +your woods, but now she has no time for it; she stays at home and spins +from morning till night; her time is all taken up and well paid for." + +Peace reigned everywhere. Groison made very satisfactory reports; +depredations seemed to have ceased, and it is even possible that the +state of the neighborhood and the feeling of the inhabitants might +really have changed if it had not been for the revengeful eagerness +of Gaubertin, the cabals of the leading society of Soulanges, and the +intrigues of Rigou, who one and all, with "the affair" in view, blew the +embers of hatred and crime in the hearts of the peasantry of the valley +des Aigues. + +The keepers still complained of finding a great many branches cut with +shears in the deeper parts of the wood and left to dry, evidently as +a provision for winter. They watched for the delinquents without ever +being able to catch them. The count, assisted by Groison, had given +certificates of pauperism to only thirty or forty of the real poor of +the district; but the other two mayors had been less strict. The more +clement the count showed himself in the affair at Conches the more +determined he was to enforce the laws about gleaning, which had now +degenerated into theft. He did not interfere with the management of +three of his farms which were leased to tenants, nor with those whose +tenants worked for his profit, of which he had a number; but he managed +six farms himself, each of about two hundred acres, and he now published +a notice that it was forbidden, under pain of being arrested and made +to pay the fine imposed by the courts, to enter those fields before +the crop was carried away. The order concerned only his own immediate +property. Rigou, who knew the country well, had let his farm-lands in +portions and on short leases to men who knew how to get in their own +crops, and who paid him in grain; therefore gleaning did not affect +him. The other proprietors were peasants, and no nefarious gleaning was +attempted on their land. + +When the harvest began the count went himself to Michaud to see how +things were going on. Groison, who advised him to do this, was to +be present himself at the gleaning of each particular field. The +inhabitants of cities can have no idea what gleaning is to the +inhabitants of the country; the passion of these sons of the soil for +it seems inexplicable; there are women who will give up well-paid +employments to glean. The wheat they pick up seems to them sweeter than +any other; and the provision they thus make for their chief and most +substantial food has to them an extraordinary attraction. Mothers take +their babes and their little girls and boys; the feeblest old men drag +themselves into the wheat-fields; and even those who own property are +paupers for the nonce. All gleaners appear in rags. + +The count and Michaud were present on horseback when the first tattered +batch entered the first fields from which the wheat had been carried. It +was ten o'clock in the morning. August had been a hot month, the sky was +cloudless, blue as a periwinkle; the earth was baked, the wheat flamed, +the harvestmen worked with their faces scorched by the reflection of the +sun-rays on the hard and arid earth. All were silent, their shirts wet +with perspiration; while from time to time, they slaked their thirst +with water from round, earthenware jugs, furnished with two handles and +a mouth-piece stoppered with a willow stick. + +At the father end of the stubble-field stood the carts which contained +the sheaves, and near them a group of at least a hundred beings who far +exceeded the hideous conceptions of Murillo and Teniers, the boldest +painters of such scenes, or of Callot, that poet of the fantastic in +poverty. The pictured bronze legs, the bare heads, the ragged garments +so curiously faded, so damp with grease, so darned and spotted and +discolored, in short, the painters' ideal of the material of abject +poverty was far surpassed by this scene; while the expression on those +faces, greedy, anxious, doltish, idiotic, savage, showed the everlasting +advantage which nature possesses over art by its comparison with the +immortal compositions of those princes of color. There were old women +with necks like turkeys, and hairless, scarlet eyelids, who stretched +their heads forward like setters before a partridge; there were +children, silent as soldiers under arms, little girls who stamped like +animals waiting for their food; the natures of childhood and old age +were crushed beneath the fierceness of a savage greed,--greed for the +property of others now their own by long abuse. All eyes were savage, +all gestures menacing; but every one kept silence in presence of the +count, the field-keeper, and the bailiff. At this moment all classes +were represented,--the great land-owners, the farmers, the working men, +the paupers; the social question was defined to the eye; hunger had +convoked the actors in the scene. The sun threw into relief the hard and +hollow features of those faces; it burned the bare feet dusty with the +soil; children were present with no clothing but a torn blouse, their +blond hair tangled with straw and chips; some women brought their babes +just able to walk, and left them rolling in the furrows. + +The gloomy scene was harrowing to the old soldier, whose heart was +kind, and he said to Michaud: "It pains me to see it. One must know the +importance of these measures to be able to insist upon them." + +"If every land-owner followed your example, lived on his property, and +did the good that you and yours are doing, general, there would be, +I won't say no poor, for they are always with us, but no poor man who +could not live by his labor." + +"The mayors of Conches, Cerneux, and Soulanges have sent us all their +paupers," said Groison, who had now looked at the certificates; "they +had no right to do so." + +"No, but our people will go to their districts," said the general. "For +the time being we have done enough by preventing the gleaning before +the sheaves were taken away; we had better go step by step," he added, +turning to leave the field. + +"Did you hear him?" said Mother Tonsard to the old Bonnebault woman, +for the general's last words were said in a rather louder tone than the +rest, and reached the ears of the two old women who were posted in the +road which led beside the field. + +"Yes, yes! we haven't got to the end yet,--a tooth to-day and to-morrow +an ear; if they could find a sauce for our livers they'd eat 'em as they +do a calf's!" said old Bonnebault, whose threatening face was turned in +profile to the general as he passed her, though in the twinkling of +an eye she changed its expression to one of hypocritical softness and +submission as she hastened to make him a profound curtsey. + +"So you are gleaning, are you, though my wife helps you to earn so much +money?" + +"Hey! my dear gentleman, may God preserve you in good health! but, don't +you see, my grandson squanders all I earn, and I'm forced to scratch +up a little wheat to get bread in the winter,--yes, yes, I glean just a +bit; it all helps." + +The gleaning proved of little profit to the gleaners. The farmers and +tenant-farmers, finding themselves backed up, took care that their wheat +was well reaped, and superintended the making of the sheaves and their +safe removal, so that little or none of the pillage of former years +could take place. + +Accustomed to get a good proportion of wheat in their gleaning, the +false as well as the true poor, forgetting the count's pardon at +Conches, now felt a deep but silent anger against him, which was +aggravated by the Tonsards, Courtecuisse, Bonnebault, Laroche, Vaudoyer, +Godain, and their adherents. Matters went worse still after the vintage; +for the gathering of the refuse grape was not allowed until Sibilet had +examined the vines with extreme care. This last restriction exasperated +these sons of the soil to the highest pitch; but when so great a social +distance separates the angered class from the threatened class, words +and threats are lost; nothing comes to the surface or is perceived but +facts; meantime the malcontents work underground like moles. + +The fair of Soulanges took place as usual quite peacefully, except +for certain jarrings between the leading society and the second-class +society of Soulanges, brought about by the despotism of the queen, who +could not tolerate the empire founded and established over the heart of +the brilliant Lupin by the beautiful Euphemie Plissoud, for she herself +laid permanent claim to his fickle fervors. + +The count and countess did not appear at the fair nor at the Tivoli +fete; and that, again, was counted a wrong by the Soudrys, the +Gaubertins, and their adherents; it was pride, it was disdain, said the +Soudry salon. During this time the countess was filling the void caused +by Emile's return to Paris with the immense interest and pleasure all +fine souls take in the good they are doing, or think they do; and the +count, for his part, applied himself no less zealously to changes and +ameliorations in the management of his estate, which he expected and +believed would modify and benefit the condition of the people and hence +their characters. Madame de Montcornet, assisted by the advice and +experience of the Abbe Brossette, came, little by little, to have a +thorough and statistical knowledge of all the poor families of the +district, their respective condition, their wants, their means of +subsistence, and the sort of help she must give to each to obtain work +so as not to make them lazy or idle. + +The countess had placed Genevieve Niseron, La Pechina, in a convent at +Auxerre, under pretext of having her taught to sew that she might employ +her in her own house, but really to save her from the shameful +attempts of Nicolas Tonsard, whom Rigou had managed to save from the +conscription. The countess also believed that a religious education, the +cloister, and monastic supervision, would subdue the ardent passions of +the precocious little girl, whose Montenegrin blood seemed to her like a +threatening flame which might one day set fire to the domestic happiness +of her faithful Olympe. + +So all was at peace at the chateau des Aigues. The count, misled by +Sibilet, reassured by Michaud, congratulated himself on his firmness, +and thanked his wife for having contributed by her benevolence to the +immense comfort of their tranquillity. The question of the sale of his +timber was laid aside till he should go to Paris and arrange with the +dealers. He had not the slightest notion of how to do business, and +he was in total ignorance of the power wielded by Gaubertin over the +current of the Yonne,--the main line of conveyance which supplied the +timber of the Paris market. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE GREYHOUND + + +Towards the middle of September Emile Blondet, who had gone to Paris to +publish a book, returned to refresh himself at Les Aigues and to think +over the work he was planning for the winter. At Les Aigues, the loving +and sincere qualities which succeed adolescence in a young man's soul +reappeared in the used-up journalist. + +"What a fine soul!" was the comment of the count and the countess when +they spoke of him. + +Men who are accustomed to move among the abysses of social nature, to +understand all and to repress nothing, make themselves an oasis in the +heart, where they forget their perversities and those of others; they +become within that narrow and sacred circle,--saints; there, they +possess the delicacy of women, they give themselves up to a momentary +realization of their ideal, they become angelic for some one being who +adores them, and they are not playing comedy; they join their soul to +innocence, so to speak; they feel the need to brush off the mud, to +heal their sores, to bathe their wounds. At Les Aigues Emile Blondet +was without bitterness, without sarcasm, almost without wit; he made no +epigrams, he was gentle as a lamb, and platonically tender. + +"He is such a good young fellow that I miss him terribly when he is not +here," said the general. "I do wish he could make a fortune and not lead +that Paris life of his." + +Never did the glorious landscape and park of Les Aigues seem as +luxuriantly beautiful as it did just then. The first autumn days were +beginning, when the earth, languid from her procreations and delivered +of her products, exhales the delightful odors of vegetation. At this +time the woods, especially, are delicious; they begin to take the russet +warmth of Sienna earth, and the green-bronze tones which form the lovely +tapestry beneath which they hide from the cold of winter. + +Nature, having shown herself in springtime jaunty and joyous as a +brunette glowing with hope, becomes in autumn sad and gentle as a blonde +full of pensive memories; the turf yellows, the last flowers unfold +their pale corollas, the white-eyed daisies are fewer in the grass, only +their crimson calices are seen. Yellows abound; the shady places are +lighter for lack of leafage, but darker in tone; the sun, already +oblique, slides its furtive orange rays athwart them, leaving long +luminous traces which rapidly disappear, like the train of a woman's +gown as she bids adieu. + +On the morning of the second day after his arrival, Emile was at a +window of his bedroom, which opened upon a terrace with a balustrade +from which a noble view could be seen. This balcony ran the whole length +of the apartments of the countess, on the side of the chateau towards +the forests and the Blangy landscape. The pond, which would have been +called a lake were Les Aigues nearer Paris, was partly in view, so was +the long canal; the Silver-spring, coming from across the pavilion of +the Rendezvous, crossed the lawn with its sheeny ribbon, reflecting the +yellow sand. + +Beyond the park, between the village and the walls, lay the cultivated +parts of Blangy,--meadows where the cows were grazing, small properties +surrounded by hedges, filled with fruit of all kinds, nut and apple +trees. By way of frame, the heights on which the noble forest-trees were +ranged, tier above tier, closed in the scene. The countess had come +out in her slippers to look at the flowers in her balcony, which were +sending up their morning fragrance; she wore a cambric dressing-gown, +beneath which the rosy tints of her white shoulders could be seen; a +coquettish little cap was placed in a bewitching manner on her hair, +which escaped it recklessly; her little feet showed their warm flesh +color through the transparent stockings; the cambric gown, unconfined at +the waist, floated open as the breeze took it, and showed an embroidered +petticoat. + +"Oh! are you there?" she said. + +"Yes." + +"What are you looking at?" + +"A pretty question! You have torn me from the contemplation of Nature. +Tell me, countess, will you go for a walk in the woods this morning +before breakfast?" + +"What an idea! You know I have a horror of walking." + +"We will only walk a little way; I'll drive you in the tilbury and take +Joseph to hold the horses. You have never once set foot in your forest; +and I have just noticed something very curious, a phenomenon; there are +spots where the tree-tops are the color of Florentine bronze, the leaves +are dried--" + +"Well, I'll dress." + +"Oh, if you do, we can't get off for two hours. Take a shawl, put on a +bonnet, and boots; that's all you want. I shall tell them to harness." + +"You always make me do what you want; I'll be ready in a minute." + +"General," said Blondet, waking the count, who grumbled and turned over, +like a man who wants his morning sleep. "We are going for a drive; won't +you come?" + +A quarter of an hour later the tilbury was slowly rolling along the park +avenue, followed by a liveried groom on horseback. + +The morning was a September morning. The dark blue of the sky burst +forth here and there from the gray of the clouds, which seemed the sky +itself, the ether seeming to be the accessory; long lines of ultramarine +lay upon the horizon, but in strata, which alternated with other lines +like sand-bars; these tones changed and grew green at the level of the +forests. The earth beneath this overhanging mantle was moistly warm, +like a woman when she rises; it exhaled sweet, luscious odors, which +yet were wild, not civilized,--the scent of cultivation was added to the +scents of the woods. Just then the Angelus was ringing at Blangy, and +the sounds of the bell, mingling with the wild concert of the forest, +gave harmony to the silence. Here and there were rising vapors, white, +diaphanous. + +Seeing these lovely preparations of Nature, the fancy had seized Olympe +Michaud to accompany her husband, who had to give an order to a keeper +whose house was not far off. The Soulanges doctor advised her to walk +as long as she could do so without fatigue; she was afraid of the midday +heat and went out only in the early morning or evening. Michaud now +took her with him, and they were followed by the dog he loved best,--a +handsome greyhound, mouse-colored with white spots, greedy, like all +greyhounds, and as full of vices as most animals who know they are loved +and petted. + +So, then the tilbury reached the pavilion of the Rendezvous, the +countess, who stopped to ask how Madame Michaud felt, was told she had +gone into the forest with her husband. + +"Such weather inspires everybody," said Blondet, turning his horse at +hazard into one of the six avenues of the forest; "Joseph, you know the +woods, don't you?" + +"Yes, monsieur." + +And away they went. The avenue they took happened to be one of the +most delightful in the forest; it soon turned and grew narrower, and +presently became a winding way, on which the sunshine flickered through +rifts in the leafy roof, and where the breeze brought odors of lavender, +and thyme, and the wild mint, and that of falling leaves, which sighed +as they fell. Dew-drops on the trees and on the grass were scattered +like seeds by the passing of the light carriage; the occupants as +they rolled along caught glimpses of the mysterious visions of the +woods,--those cool depths, where the verdure is moist and dark, where +the light softens as it fades; those white-birch glades o'ertopped +by some centennial tree, the Hercules of the forest; those glorious +assemblages of knotted, mossy trunks, whitened and furrowed, and the +banks of delicate wild plants and fragile flowers which grow between a +woodland road and the forest. The brooks sang. Truly there is a nameless +pleasure in driving a woman along the ups and downs of a slippery way +carpeted with moss, where she pretends to be afraid or really is so, and +you are conscious that she is drawing closer to you, letting you feel, +voluntarily or involuntarily, the cool moisture of her arm, the weight +of her round, white shoulder, though she merely smiles when told that +she hinders you in driving. The horse seems to know the secret of these +interruptions, and he looks about him from right to left. + +It was a new sight to the countess; this nature so vigorous in its +effects, so little seen and yet so grand, threw her into a languid +revery; she leaned back in the tilbury and yielded herself up to the +pleasure of being there with Emile; her eyes were charmed, her heart +spoke, she answered to the inward voice that harmonized with hers. He, +too, glanced at her furtively; he enjoyed that dreamy meditation, while +the ribbons of the bonnet floated on the morning breeze with the silky +curls of the golden hair. In consequence of going they knew not where, +they presently came to a locked gate, of which they had not the key. +Joseph was called up, but neither had he a key. + +"Never mind, let us walk; Joseph can take care of the tilbury; we shall +easily find it again." + +Emile and the countess plunged into the forest, and soon reached a small +interior cleared space, such as is often met with in the woods. Twenty +years earlier the charcoal-burners had made it their kiln, and the place +still remained open, quite a large circumference having been burned +over. But during those twenty years Nature had made herself a garden of +flowers, a blooming "parterre" for her own enjoyment, just as an artist +gives himself the delight of painting a picture for his own happiness. +The enchanting spot was surrounded by fine trees, whose tops hung over +like vast fringes and made a dais above this flowery couch where slept +the goddess. The charcoal-burners had followed a path to a pond, always +full of water. The path is there still; it invites you to step into it +by a turn full of mystery; then suddenly it stops short and you come +upon a bank where a thousand roots run down to the water and make a sort +of canvas in the air. This hidden pond has a narrow grassy edge, where a +few willows and poplars lend their fickle shade to a bank of turf which +some lazy or pensive charcoal-burner must have made for his enjoyment. +The frogs hop about, the teal bathe in the pond, the water-fowl come and +go, a hare starts; you are the master of this delicious bath, decorated +with iris and bulrushes. Above your head the trees take many attitudes; +here the trunks twine down like boa-constrictors, there the beeches +stand erect as a Greek column. The snails and the slugs move peacefully +about. A tench shows its gills, a squirrel looks at you; and at last, +after Emile and the countess, tired with her walk, were seated, a bird, +but I know not what bird it was, sang its autumn song, its farewell +song, to which the other songsters listened,--a song welcome to love, +and heard by every organ of the being. + +"What silence!" said the countess, with emotion and in a whisper, as if +not to trouble this deep peace. + +They looked at the green patches on the water,--worlds where life was +organizing; they pointed to the lizard playing in the sun and escaping +at their approach,--behavior which has won him the title of "the friend +of man." "Proving, too, how well he knows him," said Emile. They watched +the frogs, who, less distrustful, returned to the surface of the pond, +winking their carbuncle eyes as they sat upon the water-cresses. The +sweet and simple poetry of Nature permeated these two souls surfeited +with the conventional things of life, and filled them with contemplative +emotion. Suddenly Blondet shuddered. Turning to the countess he said,-- + +"Did you hear that?" + +"What?" she asked. + +"A curious noise." + +"Ah, you literary men who live in your studies and know nothing of the +country! that is only a woodpecker tapping a tree. I dare say you don't +even know the most curious fact in the history of that bird. As soon as +he has given his tap, and he gives millions to pierce an oak, he flies +behind the tree to see if he is yet through it; and he does this every +instant." + +"The noise I heard, dear instructress of natural history, was not a +noise made by an animal; there was evidence of mind in it, and that +proclaims a man." + +The countess was seized with panic, and she darted back through the wild +flower-garden, seeking the path by which to leave the forest. + +"What is the matter?" cried Blondet, rushing after her. + +"I thought I saw eyes," she said, when they regained the path through +which they had reached the charcoal-burner's open. + +Just then they heard the low death-rattle of a creature whose throat +was suddenly cut, and the countess, with her fears redoubled, fled +so quickly that Blondet could scarcely follow her. She ran like a +will-o'-the-wisp, and did not listen to Blondet who called to her, "You +are mistaken." On she ran, and Emile with her, till they suddenly came +upon Michaud and his wife, who were walking along arm-in-arm. Emile was +panting and the countess out of breath, and it was some time before they +could speak; then they explained. Michaud joined Blondet in laughing at +the countess's terror; then the bailiff showed the two wanderers the way +to find the tilbury. When they reached the gate Madame Michaud called, +"Prince!" + +"Prince! Prince!" called the bailiff; then he whistled,--but no +greyhound. + +Emile mentioned the curious noise that began their adventure. + +"My wife heard that noise," said Michaud, "and I laughed at her." + +"They have killed Prince!" exclaimed the countess. "I am sure of it; +they killed him by cutting his throat at one blow. What I heard was the +groan of a dying animal." + +"The devil!" cried Michaud; "the matter must be cleared up." + +Emile and the bailiff left the two ladies with Joseph and the horses, +and returned to the wild garden of the open. They went down the bank to +the pond; looked everywhere along the slope, but found no clue. Blondet +jumped back first, and as he did so he saw, in a thicket which stood +on higher ground, one of those trees he had noticed in the morning with +withered heads. He showed it to Michaud, and proposed to go to it. The +two sprang forward in a straight line across the forest, avoiding the +trunks and going round the matted tangles of brier and holly until they +found the tree. + +"It is a fine elm," said Michaud, "but there's a worm in it,--a worm +which gnaws round the bark close to the roots." + +He stopped and took up a bit of the bark, saying: "See how they work." + +"You have a great many worms in this forest," said Blondet. + +Just then Michaud noticed a red spot; a moment more and he saw the head +of his greyhound. He sighed. + +"The scoundrels!" he said. "Madame was right." + +Michaud and Blondet examined the body and found, just as the countess +had said, that some one had cut the greyhound's throat. To prevent his +barking he had been decoyed with a bit of meat, which was still between +his tongue and his palate. + +"Poor brute; he died of self-indulgence." + +"Like all princes," said Blondet. + +"Some one, whoever it is, has just gone, fearing that we might catch him +or her," said Michaud. "A serious offence has been committed. But for +all that, I see no branches about and no lopped trees." + +Blondet and the bailiff began a cautious search, looking at each spot +where they set their feet before setting them. Presently Blondet pointed +to a tree beneath which the grass was flattened down and two hollows +made. + +"Some one knelt there, and it must have been a woman, for a man would +not have left such a quantity of flattened grass around the impression +of his two knees; yes, see! that is the outline of a petticoat." + +The bailiff, after examining the base of the tree, found the beginning +of a hole beneath the bark; but he did not find the worm with the tough +skin, shiny and squamous, covered with brown specks, ending in a tail +not unlike that of a cockchafer, and having also the latter's head, +antennae, and the two vigorous hooks or shears with which the creature +cuts into the wood. + +"My dear fellow," said Blondet, "now I understand the enormous number +of _dead_ trees that I noticed this morning from the terrace of +the chateau, and which brought me here to find out the cause of +the phenomenon. Worms are at work; but they are no other than your +peasants." + +The bailiff gave vent to an oath and rushed off, followed by Blondet, to +rejoin the countess, whom he requested to take his wife home with her. +Then he jumped on Joseph's horse, leaving the man to return on foot, and +disappeared with great rapidity to cut off the retreat of the woman who +had killed his dog, hoping to catch her with the bloody bill-hook in her +hand and the tool used to make the incisions in the bark of the tree. + +"Let us go and tell the general at once, before he breakfasts," cried +the countess; "he might die of anger." + +"I'll prepare him," said Blondet. + +"They have killed the dog," said Olympe, in tears. + +"You loved the poor greyhound, dear, enough to weep for him?" said the +countess. + +"I think of Prince as a warning; I fear some danger to my husband." + +"How they have ruined this beautiful morning for us," said the countess, +with an adorable little pout. + +"How they have ruined the country," said Olympe, gravely. + +They met the general near the chateau. + +"Where have you been?" he asked. + +"You shall know in a minute," said Blondet, mysteriously, as he helped +the countess and Madame Michaud to alight. A moment more and the two +gentlemen were alone on the terrace of the apartments. + +"You have plenty of moral strength, general; you won't put yourself in a +passion, will you?" + +"No," said the general; "but come to the point or I shall think you are +making fun of me." + +"Do you see those trees with dead leaves?" + +"Yes." + +"Do you see those others that are wilting?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, every one of them has been killed by the peasants you think you +have won over by your benefits." + +And Blondet related the events of the morning. + +The general was so pale that Blondet was frightened. + +"Come, curse, swear, be furious! your self-control may hurt you more +than anger!" + +"I'll go and smoke," said the general, turning toward the kiosk. + +During breakfast Michaud came in; he had found no one. Sibilet, whom the +count had sent for, came also. + +"Monsieur Sibilet, and you, Monsieur Michaud, are to make it known, +cautiously, that I will pay a thousand francs to whoever will arrest _in +the act_ the person or persons who are killing my trees; they must also +discover the instrument with which the work is done, and where it was +bought. I have settled upon a plan." + +"Those people never betray one another," said Sibilet, "if the crime +done is for their benefit and premeditated. There is no denying that +this diabolical business has been planned, carefully planned and +contrived." + +"Yes, but a thousand francs means a couple of acres of land." + +"We can try," said Sibilet; "fifteen hundred francs might buy you a +traitor, especially if you promise secrecy." + +"Very good; but let us act as if we suspected nothing, I especially; if +not, we shall be the victims of some collusion; one has to be as wary +with these brigands as with the enemy in war." + +"But the enemy is here," said Blondet. + +Sibilet threw him the furtive glance of a man who understood the meaning +of the words, and then he withdrew. + +"I don't like your Sibilet," said Blondet, when he had seen the steward +leave the house. "That man is playing false." + +"Up to this time he has done nothing I could complain of," said the +general. + +Blondet went off to write letters. He had lost the careless gayety of +his first arrival, and was now uneasy and preoccupied; but he had no +vague presentiments like those of Madame Michaud; he was, rather, in +full expectation of certain foreseen misfortunes. He said to himself, +"This affair will come to some bad end; and if the general does not +take decisive action and will not abandon a battle-field where he is +overwhelmed by numbers there must be a catastrophe; and who knows who +will come out safe and sound,--perhaps neither he nor his wife. Good +God! that adorable little creature! so devoted, so perfect! how can he +expose her thus! He thinks he loves her! Well, I'll share their danger, +and if I can't save them I'll suffer with them." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. RURAL VIRTUE + + +That night Marie Tonsard was stationed on the road to Soulanges, sitting +on the rail of a culvert waiting for Bonnebault, who had spent the day, +as usual, at the Cafe de la Paix. She heard him coming at some distance, +and his step told her that he was drunk, and she knew also that he had +lost money, for he always sang if he won. + +"Is that you, Bonnebault?" + +"Yes, my girl." + +"What's the matter?" + +"I owe twenty-five francs, and they may wring my neck twenty-five times +before I can pay them." + +"Well, I know how you can get five hundred," she said in his ear. + +"Oh! by killing a man; but I prefer to live." + +"Hold your tongue. Vaudoyer will give us five hundred francs if you will +let him catch your mother at a tree." + +"I'd rather kill a man than sell my mother. There's your old +grandmother; why don't you sell her?" + +"If I tried to, my father would get angry and stop the trick." + +"That's true. Well, anyhow, my mother sha'n't go to prison, poor old +thing! She cooks my food and keeps me in clothes, I'm sure I don't know +how. Go to prison,--and through me! I shouldn't have any bowels within +me; no, no! And for fear any one else should sell her, I'll tell her +this very night not to kill any more trees." + +"Well, my father may say and do what he likes, but I shall tell him +there are five hundred francs to be had, and perhaps he'll ask my +grandmother if she'll earn them. They'll never put an old woman +seventy-eight years of age in prison,--though, to be sure, she'd be +better off there than in her garret." + +"Five hundred francs! well, yes; I'll speak to my mother," said +Bonnebault, "and if it suits her to give 'em to me, I'll let her have +part to take to prison. She could knit, and amuse herself; and she'd +be well fed and lodged, and have less trouble than she has at Conches. +Well, to-morrow, my girl, I'll see you about it; I haven't time to stop +now." + +The next morning at daybreak Bonnebault and his old mother knocked at +the door of the Grand-I-Vert. Mother Tonsard was the only person up. + +"Marie!" called Bonnebault, "that matter is settled." + +"You mean about the trees?" said Mother Tonsard; "yes, it is all +settled; I've taken it." + +"Nonsense!" cried Mother Bonnebault, "my son has got the promise of an +acre of land from Monsieur Rigou--" + +The two old women squabbled as to which of them should be sold by her +children. The noise of the quarrel woke up the household. Tonsard and +Bonnebault took sides for their respective mothers. + +"Pull straws," suggested Tonsard's wife. + +The short straw gave it in favor of the tavern. + +Three days later, in the forest of Ville-aux-Fayes at daybreak, the +gendarmes arrested old Mother Tonsard caught "in flagrante delicto" by +the bailiff, his assistants, and the field-keeper, with a rusty file +which served to tear the tree, and a chisel, used by the delinquent to +scoop round the bark just as the insect bores its way. The indictment +stated that sixty trees thus destroyed were found within a radius of +five hundred feet. The old woman was sent to Auxerre, the case coming +under the jurisdiction of the assize-court. + +Michaud could not refrain from saying when he discovered Mother Tonsard +at the foot of the tree: "These are the persons on whom the general and +Madame la comtesse have showered benefits! Faith, if Madame would only +listen to me, she wouldn't give that dowry to the Tonsard girl, who is +more worthless than her grandmother." + +The old woman raised her gray eyes and darted a venomous look at +Michaud. When the count learned who the guilty person was, he forbade +his wife to give the money to Catherine Tonsard. + +"Monsieur le comte is perfectly right," said Sibilet. "I know that +Godain bought that land three days before Catherine came to speak to +Madame. She is quite capable, that girl, of pretending she is with +child, to get the money; very likely Godain has had nothing to do with +it." + +"What a community!" said Blondet; "the scoundrels of Paris are saints by +comparison." + +"Ah, monsieur," said Sibilet, "self-interest makes people guilty of +horrors everywhere. Do you know who betrayed the old woman?" + +"No." + +"Her granddaughter Marie; she was jealous of her sister's marriage, and +to get the money for her own--" + +"It is awful!" said the count. "Why! they'd murder!" + +"Oh yes," said Sibilet, "for a very small sum. They care so little +for life, those people; they hate to have to work all their lives. Ah +monsieur, queer things happen in country places, as queer as those of +Paris,--but you will never believe it." + +"Let us be kind and benevolent," said the countess. + +The evening after the arrest Bonnebault came to the tavern of the +Grand-I-Vert, where all the Tonsard family were in great jubilation. +"Oh yes, yes!" said he, "make the most of your rejoicing; but I've just +heard from Vaudoyer that the countess, to punish you, withdraws the +thousand francs promised to Godain; her husband won't let her give +them." + +"It's that villain of a Michaud who has put him up to it," said Tonsard. +"My mother heard him say he would; she told me at Ville-aux-Fayes where +I went to carry her some money and her clothes. Well; let that countess +keep her money! our five hundred francs shall help Godain buy the land; +and we'll revenge ourselves for this thing. Ha! Michaud meddles with our +private matters, does he? it will bring him more harm than good. What +business is it of his, I'd like to know? let him keep to the woods! It's +he who is at the bottom of all this trouble--he found the clue that day +my mother cut the throat of his dog. Suppose I were to meddle in the +affairs of the chateau? Suppose I were to tell the general that his wife +is off walking in the woods before he is up in the morning, with a young +man." + +"The general, the general!" sneered Courtecuisse; "they can do what they +like with him. But it's Michaud who stirs him up, the mischief-maker! a +fellow who don't know his business; in my day, things went differently." + +"Ah!" said Tonsard, "those were the good days for all of us--weren't +they, Vaudoyer?" + +"Yes," said the latter, "and the fact is that if Michaud were got rid of +we should be left in peace." + +"Enough said," replied Tonsard. "We'll talk of this later--by +moonlight--in the open field." + +Towards the end of October the countess returned to Paris, leaving the +general at Les Aigues. He was not to rejoin her till some time later, +but she did not wish to lose the first night of the Italian Opera, and +moreover she was lonely and bored; she missed Emile, who was recalled by +his avocations, for he had helped her to pass the hours when the general +was scouring the country or attending to business. + +November was a true winter month, gray and gloomy, a mixture of snow and +rain, frost and thaw. The trial of Mother Tonsard had required witnesses +at Auxerre, and Michaud had given his testimony. Monsieur Rigou had +interested himself for the old woman, and employed a lawyer on her +behalf who relied in his defence on the absence of disinterested +witnesses; but the testimony of Michaud and his assistants and the +field-keeper was found to outweigh this objection. Tonsard's mother was +sentenced to five years' imprisonment, and the lawyer said to her son:-- + +"It was Michaud's testimony which got her that." + + + + +CHAPTER IX THE CATASTROPHE + + +One Saturday evening, Courtecuisse, Bonnebault, Godain, Tonsard, his +daughters, wife, and Pere Fourchon, also Vaudoyer and several mechanics +were supping at the tavern. The moon was at half-full, the first snow +had melted, and frost had just stiffened the ground so that a man's step +left no traces. They were eating a stew of hare caught in a trap; +all were drinking and laughing. It was the day after the wedding of +Catherine and Godain, and the wedded pair were to be conducted to their +new home, which was not far from that of Courtecuisse; for when Rigou +sold an acre of land it was sure to be isolated and close to the woods. +Courtecuisse and Vaudoyer had brought their guns to accompany the bride. +The neighborhood was otherwise fast asleep; not a light was to be seen; +none but the wedding party were awake, but they made noise enough. In +the midst of it the old Bonnebault woman entered, and every one looked +at her. + +"I think she is going to lie-in," she whispered in Tonsard's ear. "_He_ +has saddled his horse and is going for the doctor at Soulanges." + +"Sit down," said Tonsard, giving her his place at the table, and going +himself to lie on a bench. + +Just then the gallop of a horse passing rapidly along the road was +heard. Tonsard, Courtecuisse, and Vaudoyer went out hurriedly, and saw +Michaud on his way to the village. + +"He knows what he's about," said Courtecuisse; "he came down by the +terrace and he means to go by Blangy and the road,--it's the safest +way." + +"Yes," said Tonsard, "but he will bring the doctor back with him." + +"He won't find him," said Courtecuisse, "the doctor has been sent for to +Conches for the postmistress." + +"Then he'll go from Soulanges to Conches by the mail-road; that's +shortest." + +"And safest too, for us," said Courtecuisse, "there's a fine moon, and +there are no keepers on the roads as there are in the woods; one can +hear much farther; and down there, by the pavilions, behind the hedges, +just where they join the little wood, one can aim at a man from behind, +like a rabbit, at five hundred feet." + +"It will be half-past eleven before he comes past there," said Tonsard, +"it will take him half an hour to go to Soulanges and as much more to +get back,--but look here! suppose Monsieur Gourdon were on the road?" + +"Don't trouble about that," said Courtecuisse, "I'll stand ten minutes +away from you to the right on the road towards Blangy, and Vaudoyer +will be ten minutes away on your left towards Conches; if anything comes +along, the mail, or the gendarmes, or whatever it is, we'll fire a shot +into the ground,--a muffled sound, you'll know it." + +"But suppose I miss him?" said Tonsard. + +"He's right," said Courtecuisse, "I'm the best shot; Vaudoyer, I'll go +with you; Bonnebault may watch in my place; he can give a cry; that's +easier heard and less suspicious." + +All three returned to the tavern and the wedding festivities went on; +but about eleven o'clock Vaudoyer, Courtecuisse, Tonsard, and Bonnebault +went out, carrying their guns, though none of the women took any notice +of them. They came back in about three-quarters of an hour, and sat +drinking till past one o'clock. Tonsard's girls and their mother and the +old Bonnebault woman had plied the miller, the mechanics, and the two +peasants, as well as Fourchon, with so much drink that they were all +on the ground and snoring when the four men left the tavern; on their +return, the sleepers were shaken and roused, and every one seemed to +them, as before, in his place. + +While this orgy was going on Michaud's household was in a scene of +mortal anxiety. Olympe had felt false pains, and her husband, thinking +she was about to be delivered, rode off instantly in haste for the +doctor. But the poor woman's pains ceased as soon as she realized that +Michaud was gone; for her mind was so preoccupied by the danger her +husband ran at that hour of the night, in a lawless region filled with +determined foes, that the anguish of her soul was powerful enough +to deaden and momentarily subdue those of the body. In vain her +servant-woman declared her fears were imaginary; she seemed not to +comprehend a word that was said to her, and sat by the fire in her +bed-chamber listening to every sound. In her terror, which increased +every moment, she had the man wakened, meaning to give him some order +which still she did not give. At last, the poor woman wandered up and +down, coming and going in feverish agitation; she looked out of all the +windows and opened them in spite of the cold; then she went downstairs +and opened the door into the courtyard, looking out and listening. +"Nothing! nothing!" she said. Then she went up again in despair. About +a quarter past twelve, she cried out: "Here he is! I hear the horse!" +Again she went down, followed by the man who went to open the iron gate +of the courtyard. "It is strange," she said, "that he should return by +the Conches woods!" + +As she spoke she stood still, horrorstruck, motionless, voiceless. The +man shared her terror, for, in the furious gallop of the horse, the +clang of the empty stirrups, the neigh of the frightened animal, there +was something, they scarcely knew what, of unspeakable warning. Soon, +too soon for the unhappy wife, the horse reached the gate, panting and +sweating, but alone; he had broken the bridle, no doubt by entangling +it. Olympe gazed with haggard eyes at the servant as he opened the gate; +she saw the horse, and then, without a word, she ran to the chateau +like a madwoman; when she reached it she fell to the ground beneath the +general's windows crying out: "Monsieur, they have murdered him!" + +The cry was so terrible it awoke the count; he rang violently, bringing +the whole household to their feet; and the groans of Madame Michaud, who +as she lay on the ground, gave birth to a child that died in being born, +brought the general and all the servants about her. They raised the poor +dying woman, who expired, saying to the general: "They have murdered +him!" + +"Joseph!" cried the count to his valet, "go for the doctor; there may +yet be time to save her. No, better bring the curate; the poor woman is +dead, and her child too. My God! my God! how thankful I am that my wife +is not here. And you," he said to the gardener, "go and find out what +has happened." + +"I can tell you," said the pavilion servant, coming up, "Monsieur +Michaud's horse has come back alone, the reins broke, his legs bloody; +and there's a spot of blood on the saddle." + +"What can be done at this time of night?" cried the count. "Call +up Groison, send for the keepers, saddle the horses; we'll beat the +country." + +By daybreak, eight persons--the count, Groison, the three keepers, and +two gendarmes sent from Soulanges with their sergeant--searched the +country. It was not till the middle of the morning that they found the +body of the bailiff in a copse between the mail-road and the smaller +road leading to Ville-aux-Fayes, at the end of the park of Les Aigues, +not far from Conches. Two gendarmes started, one to Ville-aux-Fayes for +the prosecuting attorney, the other to Soulanges for the justice of the +peace. Meantime the general, assisted by the sergeant, noted down the +facts. They found on the road, just above the two pavilions, the print +of the stamping of the horse's feet as he roared, and the traces of his +frightened gallop from there to the first opening in the woods above the +hedge. The horse, no longer guided, turned into the wood-path. Michaud's +hat was found there. The animal evidently took the nearest way to reach +his stable. The bailiff had a ball though his back which broke the +spine. + +Groison and the sergeant studied the ground around the spot where the +horse reared (which might be called, in judicial language, the theatre +of the crime) with remarkable sagacity, but without obtaining any clue. +The earth was too frozen to show the footprints of the murderer, and all +they found was the paper of a cartridge. When the attorney and the judge +and Monsieur Gourdon, the doctor, arrived and raised the body to make +the autopsy, it was found that the ball, which corresponded with the +fragments of the wad, was an ammunition ball, evidently from a military +musket; and no such musket existed in the district of Blangy. The judge +and Monsieur Soudry the attorney, who came that evening to the chateau, +thought it best to collect all the facts and await events. The same +opinion was expressed by the sergeant and the lieutenant of the +gendarmerie. + +"It is impossible that it can be anything but a planned attack on the +part of the peasants," said the sergeant; "but there are two districts, +Conches and Blangy, in each of which there are five or six persons +capable of being concerned in the murder. The one that I suspect most, +Tonsard, passed the night carousing in the Grand-I-Vert; but your +assistant, general, the miller Langlume, was there, and he says that +Tonsard did not leave the tavern. They were all so drunk they could not +stand; they took the bride home at half-past one; and the return of +the horse proves that Michaud was murdered between eleven o'clock and +midnight. At a quarter past ten Groison saw the whole company assembled +at table, and Monsieur Michaud passed there on his way to Soulanges, +which he reached at eleven. His horse reared between the two pavilions +on the mail-road; but he may have been shot before reaching Blangy and +yet have stayed in the saddle for some little time. We should have to +issue warrants for at least twenty persons and arrest them; but I know +these peasants, and so do these gentlemen; you might keep them a year in +prison and you would get nothing out of them but denials. What could you +do with all those who were at Tonsard's?" + +They sent for Langlume, the miller, and the assistant of General +Montcornet as mayor; he related what had taken place in the tavern, and +gave the names of all present; none had gone out except for a minute or +two into the courtyard. He had left the room for a moment with Tonsard +about eleven o'clock; they had spoken of the moon and the weather, and +heard nothing. At two o'clock the whole party had taken the bride and +bridegroom to their own house. + +The general arranged with the sergeant, the lieutenant, and the civil +authorities to send to Paris for the cleverest detective in the service +of the police, who should come to the chateau as a workman, and behave +so ill as to be dismissed; he should then take to drinking and frequent +the Grand-I-Vert and remain in the neighborhood in the character of an +ill-wisher to the general. The best plan they could follow was to watch +and wait for a momentary revelation, and then make the most of it. + +"If I have to spend twenty thousand francs I'll discover the murderer of +my poor Michaud," the general was never weary of saying. + +He went off with that idea in his head, and returned from Paris in the +month of January with one of the shrewdest satellites of the chief of +the detective police, who was brought down ostensibly to do some work +to the interior of the chateau. The man was discovered poaching. He was +arrested, and turned off, and soon after--early in February--the general +rejoined his wife in Paris. + + + + +CHAPTER X. THE TRIUMPH OF THE VANQUISHED + + +One evening in the month of May, when the fine weather had come and the +Parisians had returned to Les Aigues, Monsieur de Troisville,--who had +been persuaded to accompany his daughter,--Blondet, the Abbe Brossette, +the general, and the sub-prefect of Ville-aux-Fayes, who was on a visit +to the chateau, were all playing either whist or chess. It was about +half-past eleven o'clock when Joseph entered and told his master that +the worthless poaching workman who had been dismissed wanted to see +him,--something about a bill which he said the general still owed him. +"He is very drunk," added Joseph. + +"Very good, I'll go and speak to him." + +The general went out upon the lawn to some distance from the house. + +"Monsieur le comte," said the detective, "nothing will ever be got out +of these people. All that I have been able to gather is that if you +continue to stay in this place and try to make the peasants renounce the +pilfering habits which Mademoiselle Laguerre allowed them to acquire, +they will shoot you as well as your bailiff. There is no use in my +staying here; for they distrust me even more than they do the keepers." + +The count paid his spy, who left the place the next day, and his +departure justified the suspicions entertained about him by the +accomplices in the death of Michaud. + +When the general returned to the salon there were such signs of emotion +upon his face that his wife asked him, anxiously, what news he had just +heard. + +"Dear wife," he said, "I don't want to frighten you, and yet it is right +you should know that Michaud's death was intended as a warning for us to +leave this part of the country." + +"If I were in your place," said Monsieur de Troisville, "I would not +leave it. I myself have had just such difficulties in Normandy, only +under another form; I persisted in my course, and now everything goes +well." + +"Monsieur le marquis," said the sub-prefect, "Normandy and Burgundy are +two very different regions. The grape heats the blood far more than the +apple. We know much less of law and legal proceedings; we live among the +woods; the large industries are unknown among us; we are still savages. +If I might give my advice to Monsieur le comte it would be to sell this +estate and put the money in the Funds; he would double his income and +have no anxieties. If he likes living in the country he could buy a +chateau near Paris with a park as beautiful as that of Les Aigues, +surrounded by walls, where no one can annoy him, and where he can let +all his farms and receive the money in good bank-bills, and have no law +suits from one year's end to another. He could come and go in three or +four hours, and Monsieur Blondet and Monsieur le marquis would not be so +often away from you, Madame la comtesse." + +"I, retreat before the peasantry when I did not recoil before the +Danube!" cried the general. + +"Yes, but what became of your cuirassiers?" asked Blondet. + +"Such a fine estate!" + +"It will sell to-day for over two millions." + +"The chateau alone must have cost that," remarked Monsieur de +Troisville. + +"One of the best properties in a circumference of sixty miles," said the +sub-prefect; "but you can find a better near Paris." + +"How much income does one get from two millions?" asked the countess. + +"Now-a-days, about eighty thousand francs," replied Blondet. + +"Les Aigues does not bring in, all told, more than thirty thousand," +said the countess; "and lately you have been at such immense +expenses,--you have surrounded the woods this year with ditches." + +"You could get," added Blondet, "a royal chateau for four hundred +thousand francs near Paris. In these days people buy the follies of +others." + +"I thought you cared for Les Aigues!" said the count to his wife. + +"Don't you feel that I care a thousand times more for your life?" she +replied. "Besides, ever since the death of my poor Olympe and Michaud's +murder the country is odious to me; all the faces I meet seem to wear a +treacherous or threatening expression." + +The next evening the sub-prefect, having ended his visit at the chateau, +was welcomed in the salon of Monsieur Gaubertin at Ville-aux-Fayes in +these words:-- + +"Well, Monsieur des Lupeaulx, so you have returned from Les Aigues?" + +"Yes," answered the sub-prefect with a little air of triumph and a look +of tender regard at Mademoiselle Elise, "and I am very much afraid to +say we may lose the general; he talks of selling his property--" + +"Monsieur Gaubertin, I speak for my pavilion. I can on longer endure the +noise, the dust of Ville-aux-Fayes; like a poor imprisoned bird I gasp +for the air of the fields, the woodland breezes," said Madame Isaure, in +a lackadaisical voice, with her eyes half-closed and her head bending +to her left shoulder as she played carelessly with the long curls of her +blond hair. + +"Pray be prudent, madame!" said her husband in a low voice; "your +indiscretions will not help me to buy the pavilion." Then, turning to +the sub-prefect, he added, "Haven't they yet discovered the men who were +concerned in the murder of the bailiff?" + +"It seems not," replied the sub-prefect. + +"That will injure the sale of Les Aigues," said Gaubertin to the +company generally, "I know very well that I would not buy the place. The +peasantry over there are such a bad set of people; even in the days of +Mademoiselle Laguerre I had trouble with them, and God knows she let +them do as they liked." + +At the end of the month of May the general still gave no sign that he +intended to sell Les Aigues; in fact, he was undecided. One night, about +ten o'clock, he was returning from the forest through one of the six +avenues that led to the pavilion of the Rendezvous. He dismissed the +keeper who accompanied him, as he was then so near the chateau. At a +turn of the road a man armed with a gun came from behind a bush. + +"General," he said, "this is the third time I have had you at the end of +my barrel, and the third time that I give you your life." + +"Why do you want to kill me, Bonnebault?" said the general, without +showing the least emotion. + +"Faith, if I don't, somebody else will; but I, you see, I like the men +who served the Emperor, and I can't make up my mind to shoot you like a +partridge. Don't question me, for I'll tell you nothing; but you've +got enemies, powerful enemies, cleverer than you, and they'll end by +crushing you. I am to have a thousand crowns if I kill you, and then I +can marry Marie Tonsard. Well, give me enough to buy a few acres of land +and a bit of a cottage, and I'll keep on saying, as I have done, that +I've found no chances. That will give you time to sell your property and +get away; but make haste. I'm an honest lad still, scamp as I am; but +another fellow won't spare you." + +"If I give you what you ask, will you tell me who offered you those +three thousand francs?" said the general. + +"I don't know myself; and the person who is urging me to do the thing +is some one I love too well to tell of. Besides, even if you did know +it was Marie Tonsard, that wouldn't help you; Marie Tonsard would be as +silent as that wall, and I should deny every word I've said." + +"Come and see me to-morrow," said the general. + +"Enough," replied Bonnebault; "and if they begin to say I'm too +dilatory, I'll let you know in time." + +A week after that singular conversation the whole arrondissement, indeed +the whole department, was covered with posters, advertising the sale of +Les Aigues at the office of Maitre Corbineau, the notary of Soulanges. +All the lots were knocked down to Rigou, and the price paid amounted to +two millions five hundred thousand francs. The next day Rigou had the +names changed; Monsieur Gaubertin took the woods, Rigou and Soudry the +vineyards and the farms. The chateau and the park were sold over again +in small lots among the sons of the soil, the peasantry,--excepting the +pavilion, its dependencies, and fifty surrounding acres, which Monsieur +Gaubertin retained as a gift to his poetic and sentimental spouse. + + * * * * * + +Many years after these events, during the year 1837, one of the most +remarkable political writers of the day, Emile Blondet, reached the +last stages of a poverty which he had so far hidden beneath an outward +appearance of ease and elegance. He was thinking of taking some +desperate step, realizing, as he did, that his writings, his mind, +his knowledge, his ability for the direction of affairs, had made him +nothing better than a mere functionary, mechanically serving the ends of +others; seeing that every avenue was closed to him and all places +taken; feeling that he had reached middle-life without fame and without +fortune; that fools and middle-class men of no training had taken the +places of the courtiers and incapables of the Restoration, and that the +government was reconstituted such as it was before 1830. One evening, +when he had come very near committing suicide (a folly he had so often +laughed at), while his mind travelled back over his miserable existence +calumniated and worn down with toil far more than with the dissipations +charged against him, the noble and beautiful face of a woman rose before +his eyes, like a statue rising pure and unbroken amid the saddest ruins. +Just then the porter brought him a letter sealed with black from the +Comtesse de Montcornet, telling him of the death of her husband, who had +again taken service in the army and commanded a division. The count +had left her his property, and she had no children. The letter, though +dignified, showed Blondet very plainly that the woman of forty whom he +had loved in his youth offered him a friendly hand and a large fortune. + +A few days ago the marriage of the Comtesse de Montcornet with Monsieur +Blondet, appointed prefect in one of the departments, was celebrated in +Paris. On their way to take possession of the prefecture, they followed +the road which led past what had formerly been Les Aigues. They stopped +the carriage near the spot where the two pavilions had once stood, +wishing to see the places so full of tender memories for each. The +country was no longer recognizable. The mysterious woods, the park +avenues, all were cleared away; the landscape looked like a tailor's +pattern-card. The sons of the soil had taken possession of the earth as +victors and conquerors. It was cut up into a thousand little lots, and +the population had tripled between Conches and Blangy. The levelling and +cultivation of the noble park, once so carefully tended, so delightful +in its beauty, threw into isolated relief the pavilion of the +Rendezvous, now the Villa Buen-Retiro of Madame Isaure Gaubertin; it was +the only building left standing, and it commanded the whole landscape, +or as we might better call it, the stretch of cornfields which now +constituted the landscape. The building seemed magnified into a chateau, +so miserable were the little houses which the peasants had built around +it. + +"This is progress!" cried Emile. "It is a page out of Jean-Jacques' +'Social Compact'! and I--I am harnessed to the social machine that works +it! Good God! what will the kings be soon? More than that, what will the +nations themselves be fifty years hence under this state of things?" + +"But you love me; you are beside me. I think the present delightful. +What do I care for such a distant future?" said his wife. + +"Oh yes! by your side, hurrah for the present!" cried the lover, gayly, +"and the devil take the future." + +Then he signed to the coachman, and as the horses sprang forward along +the road, the wedded pair returned to the enjoyment of their honeymoon. + + +1845. + + + + +ADDENDUM + +The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy. + +Note: Sons of the Soil is also known as The Peasantry and is referred to +by that title when mentioned in other addendums. + + Blondet, Emile + Jealousies of a Country Town + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + Modeste Mignon + Another Study of Woman + The Secrets of a Princess + A Daughter of Eve + The Firm of Nucingen + + Blondet, Virginie + Jealousies of a Country Town + The Secrets of a Princess + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Another Study of Woman + The Member for Arcis + A Daughter of Eve + + Bourlac, Bernard-Jean-Baptiste-Macloud, Baron de + The Seamy Side of History + + Brossette, Abbe + Beatrix + + Carigliano, Duchesse de + At the Sign of the Cat and Racket + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + The Member for Arcis + + Casteran, De + The Chouans + The Seamy Side of History + Jealousies of a Country Town + Beatrix + + Laguerre, Mademoiselle + A Prince of Bohemia + + La Roche-Hugon, Martial de + Domestic Peace + A Daughter of Eve + The Member for Arcis + The Middle Classes + Cousin Betty + + Lupin, Amaury + A Start in Life + + Marest, Georges + A Start in Life + + Minorets, The + The Government Clerks + + Montcornet, Marechal, Comte de + Domestic Peace + Lost Illusions + A Distinguished Provincial at Paris + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + A Man of Business + Cousin Betty + + Navarreins, Duc de + A Bachelor's Establishment + Colonel Chabert + The Muse of the Department + The Thirteen + Jealousies of a Country Town + Scenes from a Courtesan's Life + The Country Parson + The Magic Skin + The Gondreville Mystery + The Secrets of a Princess + Cousin Betty + + Ronquerolles, Marquis de + The Imaginary Mistress + Ursule Mirouet + A Woman of Thirty + Another Study of Woman + The Thirteen + The Member for Arcis + + Scherbelloff, Princesse (or Scherbellof or Sherbelloff) + Jealousies of a Country Town + + Soulanges, Comte Leon de + Domestic Peace + + Soulanges, Comtesse Hortense de + Domestic Peace + The Thirteen + + Steingel + The Gondreville Mystery + + Troisville, Guibelin, Vicomte de + The Seamy Side of History + The Chouans + Jealousies of a Country Town + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sons of the Soil, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SONS OF THE SOIL *** + +***** This file should be named 1417.txt or 1417.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/1/1417/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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