There was a fourth for the farm hands, wayfarers, poor travellers and mendicant monks; so that, from dawn until dark, that is to say, until eight or nine o'clock at night, eating was in progress at the château of Briantes, and some chimney was always pouring forth a rich, greasy smoke, which attracted swarms of urchins and beggars from a long way off. They always received a bountiful supply of broken food at the main gate, and laid the fifth table on the turf along the avenue, or on the banks of the ditches. Despite this generous hospitality and this numerous retinue, which did not correspond with the narrow proportions of the château itself, the marquis's income met all demands, and he always had money to spare for his innocent whims. He lost very little by peculation, although he kept no accounts; as Adamas and Bellinde detested each other, they watched each other closely, and although Bellinde was not the woman to abstain altogether from plunder, the fear of arousing suspicion made her prudent and necessarily moderate in the matter of profit. Being handsomely paid, and always magnificently dressed at the expense of the châtelain, who did not choose to see rags or dirt about him, she certainly had no excuse for malversation; but she complained none the less, being one of those who cherish a stolen sou and disdain an honestly acquired louis. As for Adamas, if he was not the soul of probity in all his relations--for he had fought in the civil wars and had acquired the manners of the partisan troops,--he was so devoted to his master, that if, in the eminent post of confidential servant which he had attained, he had dared to pillage other people and hold them to ransom, it would have been solely to enrich the manor of Briantes. Clindor made common cause with him against Bellinde, who hated him and treated him like a dog dressed in boy's clothes. He was an honest little fellow, half clever, half stupid, uncertain as yet whether he should pose as a man of the third estate, a title which was assuming more real importance every day, or should assume the airs of a future gentleman, a species of vanity which was to keep the third estate for a long time to come in an equivocal attitude and cause it to play the rôle of dupe between factions, despite its intellectual superiority. The secret of the Moorish woman's nationality was not divulged. In order not to expose her to the suspicious intolerance of Bellinde, who made a great show of piety, Adamas represented her as a Spaniard pure and simple. Not a word of her story or of Mario's transpired. "Monsieur le marquis," said Adamas to his master as he undressed him, "we are children and know nothing at all of the artifices of the toilet. This Moor, with whom I have been talking upon serious subjects, has taught me more in an hour than all your Parisian artists know. She has the most valuable secrets about all sorts of things, and knows how to extract miraculous juices from plants."