She waited one hour, two hours, until daybreak, but her husband did not
return. Then she lost her head, aroused the house, related how angry
Jean was, and said that he had gone after the poachers, and immediately
all the male farm-servants, even the boys, went in search of their
master. They found him two leagues from the farm, tied hand and foot,
half dead with rage, his gun broken, his trousers turned inside out, and
with three dead hares hanging round his neck, and a placard on his
chest, with these words: _Who goes on the chase, loses his place._

And later on, when he used to tell this story of his wedding night, he
generally added: "Ah! As far as a joke went, it was a good joke. They
caught me in a snare, as if I had been a rabbit, the dirty brutes, and
they shoved my head into a bag. But if I can only catch them some day,
they had better look out for themselves!"

That is how they amuse themselves in Normandy on a wedding day.




A COCK CROWED


Madame Berthe d'Avancelles had up till that time resisted all the
prayers of her despairing adorer, Baron Joseph de Croissard. He had
pursued her ardently in Paris during the winter, and now he was giving
fêtes and shooting parties in her honor at his Château at Carville, in
Normandy.