ave to fight against
the poor of this district at least. But that's not all. Counting it
over, Monsieur Mariotte, a worthy man, found he was the loser by his
original lease. Forced to pay ready money, he was nevertheless obliged
to sell on time; Gaubertin delivered his timber at long credits for the
purpose of ruining his competitor. He undersold him by at least five per
cent, and the end of it is that poor Mariotte's credit is badly shaken.
Gaubertin is now pressing and harassing the poor man so that he is
driven, they tell me, to leave not only Auxerre, but even Burgundy
itself; and he is right. In this way land-owners have long been
sacrificed to dealers who now set the market-prices, just as the
furniture-dealers in Paris dictate values to appraisers. But Gaubertin
saves the owners so much trouble and worry that they are really
gainers."

"How so?" asked the general.

"In the first place, because the less complicated a business is, the
greater the profits to the owners," answered Sibilet. "Besides which,
their income is more secure; and in all matters of rural improvement
and development that is the main thing, as you will find out. Then, too,
Monsieur Gaubertin is the friend and patron of working-men; he pays them
well and keeps them always at work; therefore, though their families
live on the estates, the woods leased to dealers and belonging to the
land-owners who trust the care of their property to Gaubertin (such as
MM. de Soulanges and de Ronquerolles) are not devastated. The dead wood
is gathered up, but that is all--"

"That rascal Gaubertin has lost no time!" cried the general.

"He is a bold man," said Sibilet. "He really is, as he calls himself,
the steward of the best half of the department, instead of being merely
the steward of Les Aigues. He makes a little out of everybody, and
that little on every two millions brings him in forty to fifty thousand
francs a year. He says himself, 'The fires on the Parisian hearths pay
it all.' He is your enemy, Monsieur le comte. My advice to you is to
capitulate and be reconciled with him. He is intimate, as you know, with
Soudry, the head of the gendarmerie at Soulanges; with Monsieur Rigou,
our mayor at Blangy; the patrols are under his influence; therefore you
will find it impossible to repress the pilferings which are eating into
your estate. During the last two years your woods have been devastated.
Consequently the Gravelots are more than likely to win thei