d the other peasants,
approvingly.

The old rogue shook his head with affected commiseration.

"Monsieur le Duc will not put you to that trouble," he replied; "he will
be here in less than two hours."

"How do you know?"

"I know it through Monsieur Laugeron, who, when I mounted his horse,
said to me: 'Above all, old man, explain to my friend Lacheneur that the
duke has ordered horses to be in readiness to convey him to Sairmeuse at
eleven o'clock.'"

With a common movement, all the peasants who had watches consulted them.

"And what does he want here?" demanded the same young farmer.

"Pardon! he did not tell me," replied Father Chupin; "but one need not
be very cunning to guess. He comes to revisit his former estates, and
to take them from those who have purchased them, if possible. From you,
Rousselet, he will claim the meadows upon the Oiselle, which always
yield two crops; from you, Father Gauchais, the ground upon which
the Croix-Brulee stands; from you, Chanlouineau, the vineyards on the
Borderie----"

Chanlouineau was the impetuous young man who had interrupted Father
Chupin twice already.

"Claim the Borderie!" he exclaimed, with even greater violence; "let
him try, and we will see. It was waste land when my father bought
it--covered with briers; even a goat could not have found pasture there.
We have cleared it of stones, we have scratched up the soil with our
very nails, we have watered it with our sweat, and now they would try to
take it from us! Ah! they shall have my last drop of blood first!"

"I do not say but----"

"But what? Is it any fault of ours that the nobles fled to foreign
lands? We have not stolen their lands, have we? The government offered
them for sale; we bought them, and paid for them; they are lawfully
ours."

"That is true; but Monsieur de Sairmeuse is the great friend of the
king."

The young soldier, whose voice had aroused the most noble sentiments
only a moment before, was forgotten.

Invaded France, the threatening enemy, were alike forgotten. The
all-powerful instinct of avarice was suddenly aroused.

"In my opinion," resumed Chanlouineau, "we should do well to consult the
Baron d'Escorval."

"Yes, yes!" exclaimed the peasants; "let us go at once!"

They were starting, when a villager who sometimes read the papers,
checked them by saying:

"Take care what you do. Do you not know that since the return of the
Bourbons Monsieur d'Escorval is of no account what