ceived his order for ham and bread;
after which he went himself to the cellar and fetched some wine.

Rigou contemplated for the hundredth time the well-known dining-room,
floored in oak, with stuccoed ceiling and cornice, its high wainscot and
handsome cupboards finely painted, its porcelain stone and magnificent
tall clock,--all the property of Mademoiselle Laguerre. The chair-backs
were in the form of lyres, painted white and highly varnished; the seats
were of green morocco with gilt nails. A massive mahogany table was
covered with green oilcloth, with large squares of a deeper shade of
green, and a plain border of the lighter. The floor, laid in Hungarian
point, was carefully waxed by Urbain and showed the care which
ex-waiting-women know how to exact out of their servants.

"Bah! it cost too much," thought Rigou for the hundredth time. "I can
eat as good a dinner in my room as here, and I have the income of the
money this useless splendor would have wasted. Where is Madame Soudry?"
he asked, as the mayor returned armed with a venerable bottle.

"Asleep."

"And you no longer disturb her slumbers?" said Rigou.

The ex-gendarme winked with a knowing air, and pointed to the ham which
Jeannette, the pretty maid, was just bringing in.

"That will pick you up, a pretty bit like that," he said. "It was cured
in the house; we cut into it only yesterday."

"Where did you find her?" said the ex-Benedictine in Soudry's ear.

"She is like the ham," replied the ex-gendarme, winking again; "I have
had her only a week."

Jeannette, still in her night-cap, with a short petticoat and her bare
feet in slippers, had slipped on a bodice made with straps over the arms
in true peasant fashion, over which she had crossed a neckerchief which
did not entirely hide her fresh and youthful attractions, which were at
least as appetizing as the ham she carried. Short and plump, with
bare arms mottled red, ending in large, dimpled hands with short but
well-made fingers, she was a picture of health. The face was that of a
true Burgundian,--ruddy, but white about the temples, throat, and ears;
the hair was chestnut; the corners of the eyes turned up towards the
top of the ears; the nostrils were wide, the mouth sensual, and a little
down lay along the cheeks; all this, together with a jaunty expression,
tempered however by a deceitfully modest attitude, made her the model of
a roguish servant-girl.

"On my honor, Jeannette is as good as