the sake of his
timber."

"But he would send me away, dear Monsieur Gaubertin, he would get rid of
me! and you know how happy I am living there at the gate of the Avonne."

"The general will soon get sick of the whole place," replied Gaubertin;
"you wouldn't be long out even if he did happen to send you away.
Besides, you know those woods," he added, waving his hand at the
landscape; "I am stronger there than the masters."

This conversation took place in an open field.

"Those 'Arminac' Parisian fellows ought to stay in their own mud," said
the keeper.

Ever since the quarrels of the fifteenth century the word 'Arminac'
(Armagnacs, Parisians, enemies of the Dukes of Burgundy) has continued
to be an insulting term along the borders of Upper Burgundy, where it is
differently corrupted according to locality.

"He'll go back to it when beaten," said Gaubertin, "and we'll plough
up the park; for it is robbing the people to allow a man to keep nine
hundred acres of the best land in the valley for his own pleasure."

"Four hundred families could get their living from it," said
Courtecuisse.

"If you want two acres for yourself you must help us to drive that cur
out," remarked Gaubertin.

At the very moment that Gaubertin was fulminating this sentence of
excommunication, the worthy Sarcus was presenting his son-in-law Sibilet
to the Comte de Montcornet. They had come with Adeline and the children
in a wicker carryall, lent by Sarcus's clerk, a Monsieur Gourdon,
brother of the Soulanges doctor, who was richer than the magistrate
himself. The general, pleased with the candor and dignity of the justice
of the peace, and with the graceful bearing of Adeline (both giving
pledges in good faith, for they were totally ignorant of the plans of
Gaubertin), at once granted all requests and gave such advantages to the
family of the new land-steward as to make the position equal to that of
a sub-prefect of the first class.

A lodge, built by Bouret as an object in the landscape and also as a
home for the steward, an elegant little building, the architecture of
which was sufficiently shown in the description of the gate of Blangy,
was promised to the Sibilets for their residence. The general also
conceded the horse which Mademoiselle Laguerre had provided for
Gaubertin, in consideration of the size of the estate and the distance
he had to go to the markets where the business of the property was
transacted. He allowed two hundr