breathed an intense desire for vengeance.

And M. d'Escorval was silent, fearing to aggravate this hatred,
so imprudently kindled, and whose explosion, he believed, would be
terrible.

M. Lacheneur had risen from his chair.

"I must go and take possession of my cottage," he remarked to
Chanlouineau; "you will accompany me; I have a proposition to make to
you."

M. and Mme. d'Escorval endeavored to detain him, but he would not allow
himself to be persuaded, and he departed with his daughter.

But Maurice did not despair; Marie-Anne had promised to meet him the
following day in the pine-grove near the Reche.



CHAPTER VII

The demonstrations which had greeted the Duc de Sairmeuse had been
correctly reported by Chanlouineau.

Chupin had found the secret of kindling to a white heat the enthusiasm
of the cold and calculating peasants who were his neighbors.

He was a dangerous rascal, the old robber, shrewd and cautious; bold, as
those who possess nothing can afford to be; as patient as a savage; in