to prison. She could knit, and amuse herself; and she'd
be well fed and lodged, and have less trouble than she has at Conches.
Well, to-morrow, my girl, I'll see you about it; I haven't time to stop
now."

The next morning at daybreak Bonnebault and his old mother knocked at
the door of the Grand-I-Vert. Mother Tonsard was the only person up.

"Marie!" called Bonnebault, "that matter is settled."

"You mean about the trees?" said Mother Tonsard; "yes, it is all
settled; I've taken it."

"Nonsense!" cried Mother Bonnebault, "my son has got the promise of an
acre of land from Monsieur Rigou--"

The two old women squabbled as to which of them should be sold by her
children. The noise of the quarrel woke up the household. Tonsard and
Bonnebault took sides for their respective mothers.

"Pull straws," suggested Tonsard's wife.

The short straw gave it in favor of the tavern.

Three days later, in the forest of Ville-aux-Fayes at daybreak, the
gendarmes arrested old Mother Tonsard caught "in flagrante delicto" by
the bailiff, his assistants, and the field-keeper, with a rusty file
which served to tear the tree, and a chisel, used by the delinquent to
scoop round the bark just as the insect bores its way. The indictment
stated that sixty trees thus destroyed were found within a radius of
five hundred feet. The old woman was sent to Auxerre, the case coming
under the jurisdiction of the assize-court.

Michaud could not refrain from saying when he discovered Mother Tonsard
at the foot of the tree: "These are the persons on whom the general and
Madame la comtesse have showered benefits! Faith, if Madame would only
listen to me, she wouldn't give that dowry to the Tonsard girl, who is
more worthless than her grandmother."

The old woman raised her gray eyes and darted a venomous look at
Michaud. When the count learned who the guilty person was, he forbade
his wife to give the money to Catherine Tonsard.

"Monsieur le comte is perfectly right," said Sibilet. "I know that
Godain bought that land three days before Catherine came to speak to
Madame. She is quite capable, that girl, of pretending she is with
child, to get the money; very likely Godain has had nothing to do with
it."

"What a community!" said Blondet; "the scoundrels of Paris are saints by
comparison."

"Ah, monsieur," said Sibilet, "self-interest makes people guilty of
horrors everywhere. Do you know who betrayed the old woman?"

"No."

"Her grandd