dge of such matters, and said:

"Are you not ashamed of yourself, at this time of day?"

"Ashamed of what, Princess?" he stammered.

"Why, of disturbing a lady, before she has even had time to eat her
dinner."

He wanted to have a joke, so he said:

"There is no such thing as time, for the brave."

"And there ought to be no time for getting drunk, either, old guzzler."

At this he got angry:

"I am not a guzzler, and I am not drunk."

"Not drunk?"

"No, I am not."

"Not drunk? Why, you could not even stand straight;" and she looked at
him angrily, thinking that all this time her companions were having their
dinner.

"I ... I could dance a polka," he replied, getting up, and to prove his
stability he got onto the chair, made a pirouette and jumped onto the
bed, where his thick, muddy shoes made two great marks.

"Oh! you dirty brute!" the girl cried, and rushing at him, she struck him
a blow with her fist in the stomach, such a blow that Pavilly lost his
balance, fell and struck the foot of the bed, and making a complete
somersault tumbled onto the night-table, dragging the jug and basin with
him, and then rolled onto the ground, roaring.

The noise was so loud, and his cries so piercing, that everybody in the
house rushed in, the master, mistress, servant, and the staff.

The master picked him up, but as soon as he had put him on his legs, the
peasant lost his balance again, and then began to call out that his leg
was broken, the other leg, the sound one.

It was true, so they sent for a doctor, and it happened to be the same
one who had attended him at Le Harivan's.

"What! Is it you again?" he said.

"Yes, M'sieu."

"What is the matter with you?"

"Somebody has broken my other leg for me, M'sieu."

"Who did it, old fellow?"

"Why, a female."

Everybody was listening. The girls in their dressing gowns, with their
mouths still greasy from their interrupted dinner, the mistress of the
house furious, the master nervous.

"This will be a bad job," the doctor said. "You know that the municipal
authorities look upon you with very unfavorable eyes, so we must try and
hush the matter up."

"How can it be managed?" the master of the place asked.

"Why the best way would be to send him back to the hospital, from which
he has just come out, and to pay for him there."

"I would rather do that," the master of the house replied, "than have any
fuss made about the matter."

So half an hour later,