"Who told me? Hang it! my eyes told me; I saw them all file out of the courtyard, the devil take them! They marched right past me on the road to Grandes-Landes." "Were the soldiers in that direction?" asked the young baron. Petit-Pierre thought this question rash, and she pinched Michel's arm. "Soldiers!" replied Courtin; "why should you be afraid of soldiers? But if you are, I advise you not to risk yourself at this time of night on the plain. You can't go three miles without coming plump on bayonets. Do a wiser thing than that, Monsieur Michel." "What do you advise me to do? Come, if your way is better than mine, I'll take it." "Go back with me to La Logerie; you will give your mother great satisfaction, for she is fretting herself to death over the way you are behaving." "Maître Courtin," said Michel, "I'll give you a bit of advice in exchange." "What's that, Monsieur le baron?" "To hold your tongue." "No, I cannot hold my tongue," replied the farmer, assuming an appearance of sorrowful emotion,--"no, it grieves me too much to see my young master exposed to such dangers, and all for--" "Hush, Courtin!" "For those cursed she-wolves whom the son of a peasant like myself would have none of." "Wretch! will you be silent?" cried Michel, raising his whip. The action, which Courtin had no doubt tried to provoke, caused Michel's horse to give a jump forward, and the mayor of La Logerie was now abreast of the two riders. "I am sorry if I've offended you, Monsieur le baron," he said, in a whining tone. "Forgive me; but I haven't slept for two nights thinking about it." Petit-Pierre shuddered. She heard the same false and wheedling voice that had spoken to her in the cottage of the Widow Picaut, followed, after the speaker's departure, by such painful events. She made Michel another sign, by which she meant, "Let us get rid of this man at any cost." "Very good," said Michel; "go your way and let _us_ go ours." Courtin pretended to notice for the first time that Michel had some one behind him. "Good heavens!" he exclaimed. "Why, you are not alone! Ah! I see now, Monsieur le baron, why you were so touchy about what I said. Well, monsieur," he said, addressing Petit-Pierre, "whoever you are, I am sure you will be more reasonable than your young friend. Join me in telling him there is nothing to be gained by braving the laws and the power of the government, as he is bent on doing to please those wolves." "Once more, Courtin," said Michel, in a tone that was actually menacing, "I tell you to go. I act as I think best, and I consider you very insolent to presume to judge of my conduct." But Courtin, whose smooth persistency we all know by this time, seemed determined not to depart without getting a look at the features of the mysterious personage whom his young master had behind him.