though he were ill from the effects of poison or with
some chronic malady.

"What's the matter with you, Monsieur Courtecuisse; is your tongue
tied?" asked Tonsard, as the man continued silent after he had told him
about the battle which had just taken place.

"No, no!" cried Madame Tonsard; "he needn't complain of the midwife who
cut his string,--she made a good job of it."

"It is enough to make a man dumb, thinking from morning till night of
some way to escape Rigou," said the premature old man, gloomily.

"Bah!" said old Mother Tonsard, "you've got a pretty daughter, seventeen
years old. If she's a good girl you can easily manage matters with that
old jail bird--"

"We sent her to Auxerre two years ago to Madame Mariotte the elder, to
keep her out of harm's way; I'd rather die than--"

"What a fool you are!" said Tonsard, "look at my girls,--are they any
the worse? He who dares to say they are not as virtuous as marble images
will have to do with my gun."

"It'll be hard to have to come to that," said Courtecuisse, shaking his
head. "I'd rather earn the money by shooting one of those Arminacs."

"Well, I call it better for a girl to save a father than to wrap up her
virtue and let it mildew," retorted the innkeeper.

Tonsard felt a sharp tap on his shoulder, delivered by Pere Niseron.

"That is not a right thing to say!" cried the old man. "A father is the
guardian of the honor of his family. It is by behaving as you do that
scorn and contempt are brought upon us; it is because of such conduct
that the People are accused of being unfit for liberty. The People
should set an example of civic virtue and honor to the rich. You all
sell yourselves to Rigou for gold; and if you don't sell him your
daughters, at any rate you sell him your honor,--and it's wrong."

"Just see what a position Courtecuisse is in," said Tonsard.

"See what a position I am in," replied Pere Niseron; "but I sleep in
peace; there are no thorns in my pillow."

"Let him talk, Tonsard," whispered his wife, "you know they're just _his
notions_, poor dear man."

Bonnebault and Marie, Catherine and her brother came in at this moment
in a state of exasperation, which had begun with Nicolas's failure,
and was raised to the highest pitch by Michaud's advice to the countess
about Bonnebault. As Nicolas entered the tavern he was uttering
frightful threats against the Michaud family and Les Aigues.

"The harvest's coming; well, I vow I'll not