ands of the Prussians, spoke of the cattle which
had been stolen from him, the crops which had been ruined, with the easy
manner of a nobleman who was also a tenfold millionaire, and whom
such reverses would scarcely inconvenience for a single year. Monsieur
Carre-Lamadon, a man of wide experience in the cotton industry, had
taken care to send six hundred thousand francs to England as provision
against the rainy day he was always anticipating. As for Loiseau, he had
managed to sell to the French commissariat department all the wines he
had in stock, so that the state now owed him a considerable sum, which
he hoped to receive at Havre.

And all three eyed one another in friendly, well-disposed fashion.
Although of varying social status, they were united in the brotherhood
of money--in that vast freemasonry made up of those who possess, who can
jingle gold wherever they choose to put their hands into their breeches'
pockets.

The coach went along so slowly that at ten o'clock in the morning it had
not covered twelve miles. Three times the men of the party got out and
climbed the hills on foot. The passengers were becoming uneasy, for they
had counted on lunching at Totes, and it seemed now as if they would
hardly arrive there before nightfall. Every one was eagerly looking out
for an inn by the roadside, when, suddenly, the coach foundered in a
snowdrift, and it took two hours to extricate it.

As appetites increased, their spirits fell; no inn, no wine shop could
be discovered, the approach of the Prussians and the transit of the
starving French troops having frightened away all business.

The men sought food in the farmhouses beside the road, but could not
find so much as a crust of bread; for the suspicious peasant invariably
hid his stores for fear of being pillaged by the soldiers, who, being
entirely without food, would take violent possession of everything they
found.

About one o'clock Loiseau announced that he positively had a big hollow
in his stomach. They had all been suffering in the same way for some
time, and the increasing gnawings of hunger had put an end to all
conversation.

Now and then some one yawned, another followed his example, and each in
turn, according to his character, breeding and social position, yawned
either quietly or noisily, placing his hand before the gaping void
whence issued breath condensed into vapor.

Several times Boule de Suif stooped, as if searching for something under