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, a