"Some one knelt there, and it must have been a woman, for a man would not have left such a quant.i.ty of flattened gra.s.s around the impression of his two knees; yes, see! that is the outline of a petticoat."

The bailiff, after examining the base of the tree, found the beginning of a hole beneath the bark; but he did not find the worm with the tough skin, shiny and squamous, covered with brown specks, ending in a tail not unlike that of a c.o.c.kchafer, and having also the latter's head, antennae, and the two vigorous hooks or shears with which the creature cuts into the wood.

"My dear fellow," said Blondet, "now I understand the enormous number of _dead_ trees that I noticed this morning from the terrace of the chateau, and which brought me here to find out the cause of the phenomenon. Worms are at work; but they are no other than your peasants."

The bailiff gave vent to an oath and rushed off, followed by Blondet, to rejoin the countess, whom he requested to take his wife home with her.

Then he jumped on Joseph's horse, leaving the man to return on foot, and disappeared with great rapidity to cut off the retreat of the woman who had killed his dog, hoping to catch her with the b.l.o.o.d.y bill-hook in her hand and the tool used to make the incisions in the bark of the tree.

"Let us go and tell the general at once, before he breakfasts," cried the countess; "he might die of anger."

"I'll prepare him," said Blondet.

"They have killed the dog," said Olympe, in tears.

"You loved the poor greyhound, dear, enough to weep for him?" said the countess.

"I think of Prince as a warning; I fear some danger to my husband."

"How they have ruined this beautiful morning for us," said the countess, with an adorable little pout.

"How they have ruined the country," said Olympe, gravely.

They met the general near the chateau.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"You shall know in a minute," said Blondet, mysteriously, as he helped the countess and Madame Michaud to alight. A moment more and the two gentlemen were alone on the terrace of the apartments.

"You have plenty of moral strength, general; you won't put yourself in a pa.s.sion, will you?"

"No," said the general; "but come to the point or I shall think you are making fun of me."

"Do you see those trees with dead leaves?"

"Yes."

"Do you see those others that are wilting?"

"Yes."

"Well, every one of them has been killed by the peasants you think you have won over by your benefits."

And Blondet related the events of the morning.

The general was so pale that Blondet was frightened.

"Come, curse, swear, be furious! your self-control may hurt you more than anger!"

"I'll go and smoke," said the general, turning toward the kiosk.

During breakfast Michaud came in; he had found no one. Sibilet, whom the count had sent for, came also.

"Monsieur Sibilet, and you, Monsieur Michaud, are to make it known, cautiously, that I will pay a thousand francs to whoever will arrest _in the act_ the person or persons who are killing my trees; they must also discover the instrument with which the work is done, and where it was bought. I have settled upon a plan."

"Those people never betray one another," said Sibilet, "if the crime done is for their benefit and premeditated. There is no denying that this diabolical business has been planned, carefully planned and contrived."

"Yes, but a thousand francs means a couple of acres of land."

"We can try," said Sibilet; "fifteen hundred francs might buy you a traitor, especially if you promise secrecy."

"Very good; but let us act as if we suspected nothing, I especially; if not, we shall be the victims of some collusion; one has to be as wary with these brigands as with the enemy in war."

"But the enemy is here," said Blondet.

Sibilet threw him the furtive glance of a man who understood the meaning of the words, and then he withdrew.

"I don't like your Sibilet," said Blondet, when he had seen the steward leave the house. "That man is playing false."

"Up to this time he has done nothing I could complain of," said the general.

Blondet went off to write letters. He had lost the careless gayety of his first arrival, and was now uneasy and preoccupied; but he had no vague presentiments like those of Madame Michaud; he was, rather, in full expectation of certain foreseen misfortunes. He said to himself, "This affair will come to some bad end; and if the general does not take decisive action and will not abandon a battle-field where he is overwhelmed by numbers there must be a catastrophe; and who knows who will come out safe and sound,--perhaps neither he nor his wife. Good G.o.d! that adorable little creature! so devoted, so perfect! how can he expose her thus! He thinks he loves her! Well, I'll share their danger, and if I can't save them I'll suffer with them."

CHAPTER VIII. RURAL VIRTUE

That night Marie Tonsard was stationed on the road to Soulanges, sitting on the rail of a culvert waiting for Bonnebault, who had spent the day, as usual, at the Cafe de la Paix. She heard him coming at some distance, and his step told her that he was drunk, and she knew also that he had lost money, for he always sang if he won.

"Is that you, Bonnebault?"

"Yes, my girl."

"What's the matter?"

"I owe twenty-five francs, and they may wring my neck twenty-five times before I can pay them."

"Well, I know how you can get five hundred," she said in his ear.

"Oh! by killing a man; but I prefer to live."

"Hold your tongue. Vaudoyer will give us five hundred francs if you will let him catch your mother at a tree."

"I'd rather kill a man than sell my mother. There's your old grandmother; why don't you sell her?"

"If I tried to, my father would get angry and stop the trick."