They said to him:--

"You old rogue, _va!_"

And he lost his temper, lashing himself into a rage, feverish with
excitement, desperate because he was not believed, at a loss what to
do, and still telling his story. Night came. He must needs go home. He
started with three neighbors, to whom he pointed out the place where
he had picked up the bit of string: and all the way he talked of his
misadventure.

During the evening he made a circuit of the village of Bréauté, in
order to tell everybody about it. He found none but incredulous
listeners.

He was ill over it all night.

The next afternoon, about one o'clock, Marius Paumelle, a farmhand
employed by Master Breton, a farmer of Ymauville, restored the wallet
and its contents to Master Huelbrèque of Manneville.

The man claimed that he had found it on the road; but, being unable to
read, had carried it home and given it to his employer.

The news soon became known in the neighborhood; Master Hauchecorne was
informed of it. He started out again at once, and began to tell his
story, now made complete by the dénouement. He was triumphant.

"What made me feel bad," he said, "wasn't so much the thing itself,
you understand, but the lying. There's nothing hurts you so much as