The gardener tried to make some excuse.

"Hold your tongue!" interrupted M. Lacheneur. "I dismiss you; you are no
longer in my service."

He passed on, leaving the gardener petrified with astonishment, crossed
the court-yard--a court-yard worthy of the mansion, bordered with velvet
turf, with flowers, and with dense shrubbery.

In the vestibule, inlaid with marble, three of his tenants sat awaiting
him, for it was on Sunday that he always received the workmen who
desired to confer with him.

They rose at his approach, and removed their hats deferentially. But he
did not give them time to utter a word.

"Who permitted you to enter here?" he said, savagely, "and what do you
desire? They sent you to play the spy on me, did they? Leave, I tell
you!"

The three farmers were even more bewildered and dismayed than the
gardener had been, and their remarks must have been interesting.

But M. Lacheneur could not hear them. He had opened the door of the
grand salon, and dashed in, followed by his frightened daughter.

Never had Marie-Anne seen her father in such a mood; and she trembled,
her heart torn by the most frightful presentiments.

She had heard it said that oftentimes, under the influence of some dire
calamity, unfortunate men have suddenly lost their reason entirely; and
she was wondering if her father had become insane.

It would seem, indeed, that such was the case. His eyes flashed,
convulsive shudders shook his whole body, a white foam gathered on his
lips.

He made the circuit of the room as a wild beast makes the circuit of his
cage, uttering harsh imprecations and making frenzied gestures.

His actions were strange, incomprehensible. Sometimes he seemed to be
trying the thickness of the carpet with the toe of his boot; sometimes
he threw himself upon a sofa or a chair, as if to test its softness.

Occasionally, he paused abruptly before some one of the valuable
pictures that covered the walls, or before a bronze. One might have
supposed that he was taking an inventory, and appraising all the
magnificent and costly articles which decorated this apartment, the most
sumptuous in the chateau.

"And I must renounce all this!" he exclaimed, at last.

These words explained everything.

"No, never!" he resumed, in a transport of rage; "never! never! I
cannot! I will not!"

Now Marie-Anne understood it all. But what was passing in her father's
mind? She wished to know; and, leaving the low chair in wh