e nickname "Poulet" clung to him, and
henceforth he was never called anything else. He grew very quickly, and
one of the chief amusements of his "three mothers," as the baron called
them, was to measure his height. On the wainscoting, by the drawing-room
door, was a series of marks made with a penknife, showing how much the
boy had grown every month, and these marks, which were called "Poulet's
ladder," were of great importance in everyone's eyes.

Then there came a very unexpected addition to the important personages
of the household--the dog Massacre, which Jeanne had neglected since all
her attention had been centered in her son. Ludivine fed him, and he
lived quite alone, and always on the chain, in an old barrel in front of
the stables. Paul noticed him one morning, and at once wanted to go and
kiss him. The dog made a great fuss over the child, who cried when he
was taken away, so Massacre was unchained, and henceforth lived in the
house. He became Paul's inseparable friend and companion; they played
together, and lay down side by side on the carpet to go to sleep, and
soon Massacre shared the bed of his playfellow, who would not let the
dog leave him. Jeanne lamented sometimes over the fleas, and Aunt Lison
felt angry with the dog for absorbing so much of the child's affection,
affection for which she longed, and which, it seemed to her, this animal
had stolen.

At long intervals visits were exchanged with the Brisevilles and the
Couteliers, but the mayor and the doctor were the only regular visitors
at the chateau.

The brutal way in which the priest had killed the dog, and the
suspicions he had instilled into her mind about the time of Julien's and
Gilberte's horrible death, had roused Jeanne's indignation against the
God who could have such ministers, and she had entirely ceased to attend
church. From time to time the abbe inveighed in outspoken terms against
the chateau, which, he said, was inhabited by the Spirit of Evil, the
Spirit of Everlasting Rebellion, the Spirit of Errors and of Lies, the
Spirit of Iniquity, the Spirit of Corruption and Impurity; it was by all
these names that he alluded to the baron.

The church was deserted, and when the cure happened to walk past any
fields in which the ploughmen were at work, the men never ceased their
task to speak to him, or turned to touch their hats. He acquired the
reputation of being a wizard because he cast out the devil from a woman
who was possessed,