Within an Inch of His Life

omed to his brutal ways; for it is surprising with what readiness men are tolerated in France, under the pretext that they are as they are, and that they must be taken as they

at they had been able to save had been carried to a distance, and safely stored away under the shelter of the ruins of the old castle. There, furniture and other articles were piled up pell-mell. There, carts and agricultural machines were standing about, empty casks, and sacks of oats and rye. There, also, the cattle were gathered, that had been drawn from their stalls with infinite l

scourge fire is!"

intense excitement before; for a fire is nothing as long as the feverish excitement, and the hope of saving something, continue to keep u

the alarm had been raised, the magistrate and the attorney were alone. They were standing close by each other, and for a mo

el

pin tr

earful calam

s your

e lost my head: the whole thing

believe that M. de

innocent. I feel he must be innocent; and yet

ney was o

to everybody's opinion, insist upon ex

gistrate r

me, sir, for having followed

ch you fo

my duty compelled me to do all that lies i

your friend, and only yesterday you spoke of his

ir

iosity of a village. I know that your dearest hope was to become a member of M. de Boiscoran's family

ot deny

ur projects are forgotten. Whether M. de Boiscoran is innocent or guilty, his family will never forgive you your interference. If he is gu

as if to conceal his t

uld you do i

om the case, althoug

I should ris

n which you cannot feel the calmness nor the impartiality which

ecoming impatien

rned aside from my duty by considerati

othing of

name? If he had denounced any one else, I should probably have let the matter rest there. But precisely because M. de Bois

attorney shrugg

accused of weakness; and you are going to be hard, pitiless, unjust even, against him. Because you had

l his usual rigidity

ure of

e a

is made

join them again: he returned,

he asked, "what h

Boiscoran," repli

Immed

n in bed. I am so anxious about it,

teau bowed,

t just inquiring for you." Thereupo

et, Mec

l at full length how a neighbor had told him what had happened, and how the magistrate had

to Boiscoran?"

chinet will have to lo

k was starting off, when M. Se

. I have just heard alarming news. There may be some disorder. The peasant-women who attend the market have brought in most exciting reports, and exaggerated the calamities of last night. They have started reports that ten or twelve men

the hands of a stranger. He considered it the best horse in the province. But he was evidently terribly upset, a

no one came forward. All these good people who had spent the night abroad were in great haste to retur

l drive th

s seat on the front-bench, while the magistrate, the c

Seneschal, who at the last moment felt alm

g man, as he started the horse. "If I st

him. His official duties were of very humble nature, and ill paid; but he knew how to eke out his income by other occupations

pal merchants in town. Some of the country people who were fond of litigation came to him for legal advice; and he drew up all kinds of law papers. For many years now, he had been director of the firemen's band, and manager of the Orpheon. He was a correspondent of certa

mayor's clerk, and the clerks of the bank and great institutions of Sauveterre. But all these enemies he had gradually conquered by the unmis

and consult

to rise in the world. In fact, Mechinet was a diplomat, working in secret, but as cunning as Talleyrand. He had succeeded already in making h

wise for that; but they knew the harm he might do, if he chose, as he was master of every important secret in Sauveterre,

ssmakers in town, and, moreover, devout members of all kinds of religious societies. Through them he heard all that was going on in soc

have the church and the press, the cour

vate affairs. He did not hesitate, therefore, while the carriage was rolling along on an excellent road, in

then only staid a month or so there. He was living in Paris, where his famil

in 1848, had withdrawn from public life when the Second Empire was established, and spent, since that time, all his money,

d about 1845 or 1846, it was reported that she had had a remarkable affair with a young lawyer of distinction, who had since become one of the austerest and most renowned judges. As she grew old, the marchioness devoted herself

, meadows, and forests belonging to it, had been left to him by one of his uncles, the oldest brother of his father, who had died a widower, and childless, in 1868. M. de Boiscoran was at this moment about twen

s cheerful and gay, fond of pleasure, and always in good humor. At the time of the Prussian invasion, he had been made a captain of one of the volunteer companies of the district

aid M. Daubigeon to the magistrate. "No, it is impossible! And no d

at once," said young Ri

It had been built towards the end of the seventeenth century, in wretched taste, but massively, like a fortress. Its position is superb. It is surrounded on all sides by woo