That is one of the
causes of the late mayor's rancor against me; his hatred grew out of
it. Pere Niseron said to him solemnly that he would kill him if any harm
came to Genevieve, and he made him responsible for all attempts upon the
poor child's honor. I can't help thinking that this pursuit of Nicolas
is the result of some infernal collusion with Rigou, who thinks he can
do as he likes with these people."

"Doesn't he fear the law?"

"In the first place, he is father-in-law of the prosecuting-attorney,"
said the abbe, pausing to listen. "And then," he resumed, "you have no
conception of the utter indifference of the rural police to what is done
around them. So long as the peasants do not burn the farm-houses and
buildings, commit no murders, poison no one, and pay their taxes, they
let them do as they like; and as these people are not restrained by any
religious principle, horrible things happen every day. On the other side
of the Avonne helpless old men are afraid to stay in their own homes,
for they are allowed nothing to eat; they wander out into the fields
as far as their tottering legs can bear them, knowing well that if they
take to their beds they will die for want of food. Monsieur Sarcus, the
magistrate, tells me that if they arrested and tried all criminals, the
costs would ruin the municipality."

"Then he at least sees how things are?" said Blondet.

"Monseigneur thoroughly understands the condition of the valley, and
especially the state of this district," continued the abbe. "Religion
alone can cure such evils; the law seems to me powerless, modified as it
is now--"

The words were interrupted by loud cries from the woods, and the
countess, preceded by Emile and the abbe, sprang bravely into the
brushwood in the direction of the sounds.

CHAPTER XI. THE OARISTYS, EIGHTEENTH ECLOGUE OF THEOCRITUS

LITTLE ADMIRED ON THE POLICE CALENDAR

The sagacity of a savage, which Michaud's new occupation had developed
among his faculties, joined to an acquaintance with the passions and
interests of Blangy, enabled him partially to understand a third idyll
in the Greek style, which poor villagers like Tonsard, and middle-aged
rich men like Rigou, translate _freely_--to use the classic word--in the
depths of their country solitudes.

Nicolas, Tonsard's second son, had drawn an unlucky number at a recent
conscription. Two years earlier his elder brother had been pronounced,
through the influence of Soud