iest shook with laughter, and said to the Sister: 'Never mind, just
this once, it will not hurt her. Do leave them alone.'

"After the two fowls they ate the duck, which was flanked by the three
pigeons and a blackbird, and then the goose appeared, smoking,
golden-colored, and diffusing a warm odor of hot, browned fat meat. La
Paumelle who was getting lively, clapped her hands; La Jean-Jean left
off answering the Baron's numerous questions, and La Putois uttered
grunts of pleasure, half cries and half sighs, like little children do
when one shows them sweets. 'Allow me to carve this bird,' the cure
said. 'I understand these sort of operations better than most people.'

"'Certainly, Monsieur l'Abbe,' and the Sister said: 'How would it be to
open the window a little; they are too warm, and I am afraid they will
be ill.'

"I turned to Marchas: 'Open the window for a minute.' He did so; the
cold outer air as it came in made the candles flare, and the smoke from
the goose--which the cure was scientifically carving, with a table
napkin round his neck--whirl about. We watched him doing it, without
speaking now, for we were interested in his attractive handiwork, and
also seized with renewed appetite at the sight of that enormous
golden-colored bird, whose limbs fell one after another into the brown
gravy at the bottom of the dish. At that moment, in the midst of greedy
silence which kept us all attentive, the distant report of a shot came
in at the open window.

"I started to my feet so quickly that my chair fell down behind me, and
I shouted: 'Mount, all of you! You, Marchas, will take two men and go
and see what it is. I shall expect you back here in five minutes.' And
while the three riders went off at full gallop through the night, I got
into the saddle with my three remaining hussars, in front of the steps
of the villa, while the cure, the Sister, and the three old women
showed their frightened faces at the window.

"We heard nothing more, except the barking of a dog in the distance.
The rain had ceased, and it was cold, very cold. Soon I heard the
gallop of a horse, of a single horse, coming back. It was Marchas, and
I called out to him: 'Well?'

"'It is nothing; Francois has wounded an old peasant who refused to
answer his challenge and who continued to advance in spite of the order
to keep off. They are bringing him here, and we shall see what is the
matter.'

"I gave orders for the horses to be put back into t