t'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