people are not to blame."

"Oh, but it is ten years since an otter has been seen about here,"
said the pitiless general.

"Monsieur le comte," said Francois, "the boy swears by all that's
sacred that he has got one."

"If they have one I'll buy it," said the general.

"I don't suppose," remarked the Abbe Brossette, "that God has
condemned Les Aigues to never have otters."

"Ah, Monsieur le cure!" cried Blondet, "if you bring the Almighty
against me--"

"But what is all this? Who is here?" said the countess, hastily.

"Mouche, madame,--the boy who goes about with old Fourchon," said the
footman.

"Bring him in--that is, if Madame will allow it?" said the general;
"he may amuse you."

Mouche presently appeared, in his usual state of comparative nudity.
Beholding this personification of poverty in the middle of this
luxurious dining-room, the cost of one panel of which would have been
a fortune to the bare-legged, bare-breasted, and bare-headed child, it
was impossible not to be moved by an impulse of charity. The boy's
eyes, like blazing coals, gazed first at the luxuries of the room, and