ourtecuisse, to
avoid having to walk from the pavilion to the pheasantry, had turned the
large hall of the central building into a stable,--a hall with panelled
ceiling, and in the centre of each panel the arms of all the various
possessors of Les Aigues!

Black and dirty palings disgraced the approach to the pavilion, making
square inclosures with plank roofs for pigs, ducks, and hens, the manure
of which was taken away every six months. A few ragged garments were
hung to dry on the brambles which boldly grew unchecked here and
there. As the general came along the avenue from the bridge, Madame
Courtecuisse was scouring a saucepan in which she had just made her
coffee. The forester, sitting on a chair in the sun, considered his
wife as a savage considers his. When he heard a horse's hoofs he turned
round, saw the count, and seemed taken aback.

"Well, Courtecuisse, my man," said the general, "I'm not surprised that
the peasants cut my woods before Messrs. Gravelot can do so. So you
consider your place a sinecure?"

"Indeed, Monsieur le comte, I have watched the woods so many nights that
I'm ill from it. I've got a chill, and I suffer such pain this morning
that my wife has just made me a poultice in that saucepan."

"My good fellow," said the count, "I don't know of any pain that a
coffee poultice cures except that of hunger. Listen to me, you rascal! I
rode through my forest yesterday, and then through those of Monsieur de
Soulanges and Monsieur de Ronquerolles. Theirs are carefully watched and
preserved, while mine is in a shameful state."

"Ah, monsieur! but they are the old lords of the neighborhood; everybody
respects their property. How can you expect me to fight against six
districts? I care for my life more than for your woods. A man who would
undertake to watch your woods as they ought to be watched would get a
ball in his head for wages in some dark corner of the forest--"

"Coward!" cried the general, trying to control the anger the man's
insolent reply provoked in him. "Last night was as clear as day, yet it
cost me three hundred francs in actual robbery and over a thousand in
future damages. You will leave my service unless you do better. All
wrong-doing deserves some mercy; therefore these are my conditions: You
may have the fines, and I will pay you three francs for every indictment
you bring against these depredators. If I don't get what I expect, you
know what you have to expect, and no pension e