little chance of obtaining the hand of Mademoiselle
Victorine, the iron-master's only daughter and heiress, a plump little
beauty, who views Froidevaux with special favour and affection, and with
whom he is deeply in love. Amongst the personages of a lower class, the
most prominent is Toussaint Gilles, landlord of the Cheval Patriote, and
son of one of the revolutionary butchers of the Reign of Terror; a
furious republican, who wears a _carmagnole_ and a red cap, inherits his
father's hatred of the vile aristocrats, and prides himself on his
principles, and on a truculent and immeasurable mustache. Amoudru, a
pusillanimous mayor; Bobilier, a fiery old justice of the peace, and
devoted vassal of the house of Chateaugiron; and Rabusson, once a
sergeant in M. de Vaudrey's regiment, now his game-keeper, must not be
forgotten. A festival got up by Bobilier to celebrate the marquis's
arrival at the castle of his ancestors, stirs the bile of Toussaint
Gilles, who sees in it a base adulation of the _ci-devants_. As
president of the republican club of Chateaugiron-le-Bourg, he, on the
following day, incites a few discontented spirits to a popular
demonstration, to consist in burning down the triumphal arch erected by
the servile justice of peace, and in hoisting a brand-new tricolored
flag on the tree of liberty--a poplar planted, during the glorious days
of July, close to the gate of the marquis's chateau, but which had long
since withered into a dry and unsightly maypole. A number of bad
characters mingle in the crowd, and the demonstration assumes a more
turbulent and criminal aspect than its original promoters had
contemplated. The outer gate of the chateau is forced, and stones are
thrown, one of which grazes the cheek of the Viscount de Langerac, who
receives the wound, so he affirms, whilst heroically interposing his
person between Madame de Bonvalot and the shower of missiles. At last
the marquis arms his servants, and repels the rioters, already
frightened at their own deeds; the justice of peace menaces them with
the assizes, Froidevaux exerts his influence, and the disturbance is
nearly at an end, when the flames communicate from the triumphal arch to
the tree of liberty. Toussaint Gilles, as captain of the firemen,
hurries to extinguish the conflagration that menaces the flag-staff, on
whose summit Picardet the blacksmith, another zealous member of the
democratic club, is busy fastening the tricolored symbol of freedom