the emperor's fall, the general's protege was denounced as a
Bonapartist, and his place was taken by Barricini. He, in his turn, was
dismissed during the Hundred Days, but when the storm had blown over,
he again took possession, with great pomp, of the mayoral seal and the
municipal registers.

From this moment his star shone brighter than ever. Colonel della
Rebbia, now living on half-pay at Pietranera, had to defend himself
against covert and repeated attacks due to the pettifogging malignity of
his enemy. At one time he was summoned to pay for the damage his horse
had done to the mayor's fences, at another, the latter, under pretence
of repairing the floor of the church, ordered the removal of a broken
flagstone bearing the della Rebbia arms, which covered the grave of
some member of the family. If the village goats ate the colonel's young
plants, the mayor always protected their owners. The grocer who kept the
post-office at Pietranera, and the old maimed soldier who had been
the village policeman--both of them attached to the della Rebbia
family--were turned adrift, and their places filled by Barricini's
creatures.

The colonel's wife died, and her last wish was that she might be buried
in the middle of the little wood in which she had been fond of walking.
Forthwith the mayor declared she should be buried in the village
cemetery, because he had no authority to permit burial in any other
spot. The colonel, in a fury, declared that until the permit came, his
wife would be interred in the spot she had chosen. He had her grave dug
there. The mayor, on his side, had another grave dug in the cemetery,
and sent for the police, that the law, so he declared, might be duly
enforced. On the day of the funeral, the two parties came face to face,
and, for a moment, there was reason to fear a struggle might ensue for
the possession of Signora della Rebbia's corpse. Some forty well-armed
peasants, mustered by the dead woman's relatives, forced the priest,
when he issued from the church, to take the road to the wood. On the
other hand, the mayor, at the head of his two sons, his dependents, and
the gendarmes, advanced to oppose their march. When he appeared, and
called on the procession to turn back, he was greeted with howls and
threats. The advantage of numbers was with his opponents, and they
seemed thoroughly determined. At sight of him several guns were loaded,
and one shepherd is even said to have levelled his musket at hi