ated back to a period of the
butcher's life when he had resided in the ancient town of Narbonne.
One of these rumors, especially, was of so serious a nature that
Siadoux determined to test the truth or falsehood of it personally by
traveling to Narbonne. He kept his intention a secret not only from
his sister and his daughters, but also from his sons; they were young
men, not overpatient in their tempers, and he doubted their discretion.
Thus, nobody knew his real purpose but himself when he left home.

His safe arrival at Narbonne was notified in a letter to his family.
The letter entered into no particulars relating to his secret errand:
it merely informed his children of the day when they might expect him
back, and of certain social arrangements which he wished to be made to
welcome him on his return. He proposed, on his way home, to stay two
days at Castelnaudry, for the purpose of paying a visit to an old
friend who was settled there. According to this plan, his return to
Croix-Daurade would be deferred until Tuesday, the twenty-sixth of
April, when his family might expect to see him about sunset, in good
time for supper. He further desired that a little party of friends
might be invited to the meal, to celebrate the twenty-sixth of April
(which was a feast-day in the village), as well as to celebrate his
return. The guests whom he wished to be invited were, first, his
sister; secondly, Monsieur Chaubard, whose pleasant disposition made
him a welcome guest at all the village festivals; thirdly and fourthly,
two neighbors, business men like himself, with whom he lived on terms
of the friendliest intimacy. That was the party; and the family of
Siadoux took especial pains, as the time approached, to provide a
supper worthy of the guests, who had all shown the heartiest readiness
in accepting their invitations.

This was the domestic position, these were the family prospects, on the
morning of the twenty-sixth of April--a memorable day, for years
afterward, in the village of Croix-Daurade.

II. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY

Besides the curacy of the village church, good Monsieur Chaubard held
some ecclesiastical preferment in the cathedral church of St. Stephen
at Toulouse. Early in the forenoon of the twenty-sixth, certain
matters connected with this preferment took him from his village curacy
to the city--a distance which has been already described as not greater
than one French league, or between two and three