end of the
general since 1804; and it was a word from him said to Montcornet in a
conversation in Paris, which brought about the purchase of Les Aigues.
Comte Martial, a prefect under Napoleon, remained a prefect under the
Bourbons, and courted the bishop to retain his place. Now it happened
that Monseigneur had several times requested him to get rid of Rigou.
Martial, to whom the condition of the district was perfectly well known,
was delighted with the general's request; so that in less than a month
the Comte de Montcornet was mayor of Blangy.

By one of those accidents which come about naturally, the general met,
while at the prefecture where his friend put him up, a non-commissioned
officer of the ex-Imperial guard, who had been cheated out of his
retiring pension. The general had already, under other circumstances,
done a service to the brave cavalryman, whose name was Groison; the
man, remembering it, now told him his troubles, admitting that he was
penniless. The general promised to get him his pension, and proposed
that he should take the place of field-keeper to the district of Blangy,
as a way of paying off his score of gratitude by devotion to the
new mayor's interests. The appointments of master and man were made
simultaneously, and the general gave, as may be supposed, very firm
instructions to his subordinate.

Vaudoyer, the displaced keeper, a peasant on the Ronquerolles estate,
was only fit, like most field-keepers, to stalk about, and gossip, and
let himself be petted by the poor of the district, who asked nothing
better than to corrupt at subaltern authority,--the advanced guard, as
it were, of the land-owners. He knew Soudry, the brigadier at
Soulanges, for brigadiers of gendarmerie, performing functions that are
semi-judicial in drawing up criminal indictments, have much to do with
the rural keepers, who are, in fact, their natural spies. Soudry,
being appealed to, sent Vaudoyer to Gaubertin, who received his old
acquaintance very cordially, and invited him to drink while listening to
the recital of his troubles.

"My dear friend," said the mayor of Ville-aux-Fayes, who could talk to
every man in his own language, "what has happened to you is likely
to happen to us all. The nobles are back upon us. The men to whom the
Emperor gave titles make common cause with the old nobility. They all
want to crush the people, re-establish their former rights and take
our property from us. But we are Burgundians