they wished him to confirm their titles to their property."

"And did they believe him?"

"Implicitly. It did not take them long to make their preparations. They
went to the town hall and took the firemen's rifles, and the guns used
for firing a salute on fete days; the mayor gave them the powder, and
you heard----

"When I left Sairmeuse there were more than two hundred idiots before
the presbytery, shouting:

"_Vive Monseigneur! Vive le Duc de Sairmeuse_!"

It was as d'Escorval had thought.

"The same pitiful farce that was played in Paris, only on a smaller
scale," he murmured. "Avarice and human cowardice are the same the world
over!"

Meanwhile, Chanlouineau was going on with his recital.

"To make the fete complete, the devil must have warned all the nobility
in the neighborhood, for they all came running. They say that Monsieur
de Sairmeuse is a favorite with the King, and that he can get anything
he wishes. So you can imagine how they all greeted him! I am only a poor
peasant, but never would I lie down in the dust before any man as these
old nobles who are so haughty with us, did before the duke. They kissed
his hands, and he allowed them to do it. He walked about the square with
the Marquis de Courtornieu----"

"And his son?" interrupted Maurice.

"The Marquis Martial, is it not? He is also walking before the church
with Mademoiselle Blanche de Courtornieu upon his arm. Ah! I do not
understand how people can call her pretty--a little bit of a thing,
so blond that one might suppose her hair was gray. Ah! how those two
laughed and made fun of the peasants. They say they are going to marry
each other. And even this evening there is to be a banquet at the
Chateau de Courtornieu in honor of the duke."

He had told all he knew. He paused.

"You have forgotten only one thing," said M. Lacheneur; "that is,
to tell us how your clothing happened to be torn, as if you had been
fighting."

The young farmer hesitated for a moment, then replied, somewhat
brusquely:

"I can tell you, all the same. While Chupin was preaching, I also
preached, but not in the same strain. The scoundrel reported me. So, in
crossing the square, the duke paused before me and remarked: 'So you are
an evil-disposed person?' I said no, but that I knew my rights. Then he
took me by the coat and shook me, and told me that he would cure me,
and that he would take possession of _his_ vineyard again. _Saint Dieu_!
When I felt the old r