But I felt sure that if he spoke after this fashion to Monsieur le Sous-prefet, he would lay hands upon both of us; and I said that I should go alone, because his presence would put a constraint upon me. "Very well," he said; "but you will tell me everything that the sous-prefet has been saying to you." He tore up his letter, and we went out together. I don't remember that I ever passed a worse night than that. My wife kept repeating to me that our Cousin George had the precedence over the sous-prefet, who only laughed at us; that the Emperor, too, had cousins, who wanted to inherit everything from him, and that everybody ought to stick to their own belongings. Next day, when I left for Sarrebourg, my head was in a whirl of confusion, and I thought that my cousin and his wife would have done well to have stayed in Paris rather than come and trouble us when we were at peace, when every man paid his own rates and taxes, when everybody voted as they liked at the prefecture. I could say that never was a loud word spoken at the public-house; that people attended with regularity both mass and vespers; that the gendarmes never visited our village more than once a week to preserve order; and that I myself was treated with consideration and respect: when I spoke but a word, honest men said, "That's the truth; that's the opinion of Monsieur le Maire!" Yes, all these things and many more passed through my mind, and I should have liked to see Cousin George at Jericho. This is just how we were in our village, and I don't know even yet by what means other people had made such fools of us. In the end, we have had to pay dearly for it; and our children ought to learn wisdom by it. At Sarrebourg, I had to wait two hours before I could see Monsieur le Sous-prefet, who was breakfasting with messieurs the councillors of the arrondissement, in honor of the Plebiscite. Five or six mayors of the neighborhood were waiting like myself; we saw filing down the passage great dishes of fish and game, notwithstanding that the fishing and shooting seasons were over; and then baskets of wine; and we could hear our councillors laughing, "Ha! ha! ha!" They were enjoying themselves mightily. At last Monsieur le Sous-prefet came out; he had had an excellent breakfast. "Ha! is that you, gentlemen?" said he; "come in, come into the office."