a twentieth part of its real value. The appraisement was sixty-nine
thousand francs. It was giving the property away.

And yet, it was necessary to have this amount, and Lacheneur possessed
it, since he had poured it in a flood of beautiful louis d'or into the
hands of the receiver of the district.

From that moment his popularity waned. The patriots who had applauded
the ploughboy, cursed the capitalist. He discreetly left them to recover
from their rage as best they could, and returned to Sairmeuse. There
everyone bowed low before Citoyen Lacheneur.

Unlike most people, he did not forget his past hopes at the moment when
they might be realized.

He married Martha Barrois, and, leaving the country to work out its
own salvation without his assistance, he gave his time and attention to
agriculture.

Any close observer, in those days, would have felt certain that the man
was bewildered by the sudden change in his situation.

His manner was so troubled and anxious that one, to see him, would
have supposed him a servant in constant fear of being detected in some
indiscretion.

He did not open the chateau, but installed himself and his young wife in
the cottage formerly occupied by the head game-keeper, near the entrance
of the park.