doors and windows were
still closed, an excitement began in the Faubourg Saint-Etienne which
presently reached the rue de la Cloche, where Madame des Vanneaulx
resided.

The niece was always in expectation of some such catastrophe, and she at
once notified the officers of the law, who went to the house and broke
in the gate. They soon discovered in a clover patch four holes, and
near two of these holes lay the fragments of earthenware pots, which had
doubtless been full of gold the night before. In the other two holes,
scarcely covered up, were the bodies of old Pingret and Jeanne Malassis,
who had been buried with their clothes on. The poor girl had run to her
master's assistance in her night-gown, with bare feet.

While the _procureur-du-roi_, the commissary of police, and the
examining magistrate were gathering all particulars for the basis of
their action, the luckless des Vanneaulx picked up the broken pots and
calculated from their capacity the sum lost. The magistrates admitted
the correctness of their calculations and entered the sum stolen on
their records as, in all probability, a thousand gold coins to each pot.
But were these coins forty-eight or forty, twenty-four or twenty francs
in value? All expectant heirs in Limoges sympathized with the des
Vanneaulx. The Limousin imagination was greatly stirred by the spectacle
of the broken pots. As for old Pingret, who often sold vegetables
himself in the market, lived on bread and onions, never spent more than
three hundred francs a year, obliged and disobliged no one, and had
never done one atom of good in the suburb of Saint-Etienne where he
lived, his death did not excite the slightest regret. Poor Jeanne
Malassis' heroism, which the old miser, had she saved him, would
certainly not have rewarded, was thought rash; the number of souls who
admired it was small in comparison with those who said: "For my part, I
should have stayed in my bed."

The police found neither pen nor ink wherewith to write their report in
the bare, dilapidated, cold, and dismal house. Observing persons and the
heir might then have noticed a curious inconsistency which may be seen
in certain misers. The dread the little old man had of the slightest
outlay showed itself in the non-repaired roof which opened its sides
to the light and the rain and snow; in the cracks of the walls; in the
rotten doors ready to fall at the slightest shock; in the windows, where
the broken glass was replaced