"And did they believe him?"

"Implicitly. It did not take them long to make their preparations. They
went to the town hall and took the firemen's rifles, and the guns used
for firing a salute on fete days; the mayor gave them the powder, and
you heard----

"When I left Sairmeuse there were more than two hundred idiots before
the presbytery, shouting:

"_Vive Monseigneur! Vive le Duc de Sairmeuse_!"

It was as d'Escorval had thought.

"The same pitiful farce that was played in Paris, only on a smaller
scale," he murmured. "Avarice and human cowardice are the same the world
over!"

Meanwhile, Chanlouineau was going on with his recital.

"To make the fete complete, the devil must have warned all the nobility
in the neighborhood, for they all came running. They say that Monsieur
de Sairmeuse is a favorite with the King, and that he can get anything
he wishes. So you can imagine how they all greeted him! I am only a poor
peasant, but never would I lie down in the dust before any man as these
old nobles who are so haughty with us, did before the duke. They kissed
his hands, and he allowed them to do it. He walked about the square with
the Marquis de Courtornieu----"

"And his son?" interrupted Maurice.