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 w