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"With such a class of people," he added, "we must follow out the law." So, without a moment's reflection, Montcornet gave in to a measure that Sibilet had been proposing to him for more than a fortnight, to which he had hitherto refused to consent; but now, in the violence of anger caused by Vatel's mishap, he instantly adopted it as the right thing to do.
A few words exchanged between them let Gaubertin see the muck of a soul ready to ferment under the hot temptations of legal robbery. He warily sounded a nature that could be warped to the exigencies of any plan, provided it was profitable. At each of the three visits Sibilet grumbled at his fate. "Employ me, cousin," he said; "take me as a clerk and make me your successor.
"Pechina!" said the countess, "whom do you mean?" "Madame la comtesse, when you met little Genevieve on the road in a miserable condition, you cried out in Italian, 'Piccina! The word became a nickname, and is now corrupted all through the district into Pechina," said the abbe. "The poor girl comes to church with Madame Michaud and Madame Sibilet."
He cast upon his four superiors sitting at table, and also upon Sibilet, that look of mingled distrust and servility which serves as a veil to the thoughts of the peasantry; then he brandished his amphibian with a triumphant air. "Here it is!" he cried, addressing Blondet. "My otter!" returned the Parisian, "and well paid for."
"Then what's to be done?" cried the general, his blood boiling as he tramped up and down before the bench. "Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, abruptly, "what I say to you is not for my own interests, certainly; but I advise you to sell Les Aigues and leave the neighborhood."
"When you have served the coffee, leave the room," said the general to the servants, "and see that the doors are shut." Blondet, who had not yet seen the bailiff of Les Aigues, was conscious, as he now saw him, of a totally different impression from that conveyed by Sibilet. Just as the steward inspired distrust and repulsion, so Michaud commanded respect and confidence.
Michaud, as he said this, took notice of Sibilet, whose expression of keen delight in Fourchon's daring words was not seen by the four persons seated at the table, because they were so preoccupied by the old man; whereas Michaud, who for secret reasons watched Sibilet constantly, was struck with his air and manner.
"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.
Sibilet was dressed in a brown surtout coat, black trousers and waistcoat, and wore his hair long and flat to the head, which gave him a clerical look. His trousers barely concealed that he was knock-kneed. Though his pallid complexion and flabby flesh gave the impression of an unhealthy constitution, Sibilet was really robust.
"Tolerant!" continued the keeper, replying to the general's remark about Sibilet, "I would tolerate a loss of ten per cent upon the gross returns of Les Aigues; but as things are now thirty per cent is what you lose, general; and, if Monsieur Sibilet's accounts show it, I don't understand his tolerance, for he benevolently gives up a thousand or twelve hundred francs a year."
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