time that old fellow has passed here to-day. What's in the
wind? Hush, Couraut!"

A few moments later the trot of a pony was heard approaching.

CHAPTER II. A CRIME RELINQUISHED

Violette, mounted on one of those little nags which the farmers in the
neighborhood of Paris use so much, soon appeared, wearing a round hat
with a broad brim, beneath which his wood-colored face, deeply wrinkled,
appeared in shadow. His gray eyes, mischievous and lively, concealed
in a measure the treachery of his nature. His skinny legs, covered with
gaiters of white linen which came to the knee, hung rather than rested
in the stirrups, seemingly held in place by the weight of his hob-nailed
shoes. Above his jacket of blue cloth he wore a cloak of some coarse
woollen stuff woven in black and white stripes. His gray hair fell in
curls behind his ears. This dress, the gray horse with its short legs,
the manner in which Violette sat him, stomach projecting and shoulders
thrown back, the big chapped hands which held the shabby bridle, all
depicted him plainly as the grasping, ambitious peasant who desires
to own land and buys it at any price. His mouth, with its bluish lips
parted as if a surgeon had pried them open with a scalpel, and the
innumerable wrinkles of his face and forehead hindered the play of
features which were expressive only in their outlines. Those hard, fixed
lines seemed menacing, in spite of the humility which country-folks
assume and beneath which they conceal their emotions and schemes, as
savages and Easterns hide theirs behind an imperturbable gravity. First
a mere laborer, then the farmer of Grouage through a long course of
persistent ill-doing, he continued his evil practices after conquering a
position which surpassed his early hopes. He wished harm to all men
and wished it vehemently. When he could assist in doing harm he did it
eagerly. He was openly envious; but, no matter how malignant he might
be, he kept within the limits of the law,--neither beyond it nor behind
it, like a parliamentary opposition. He believed his prosperity depended
on the ruin of others, and that whoever was above him was an enemy
against whom all weapons were good. A character like this is very common
among the peasantry.

Violette's present business was to obtain from Malin an extension of the
lease of his farm, which had only six years longer to run. Jealous of
the bailiff's means, he watched him narrowly. The neighbors reproached