of the presbytery, he expressed his lively satisfaction at the scene
without.

He, this _grand seigneur_ of times gone by, this man of absurd
prejudices and obstinate illusions; the unconquerable, and the
incorrigible--he took these acclamations, "truly spurious coin," as
Chateaubriand says, for ready money.

"How you have deceived me, cure," he was saying to Abbe Midon. "How
could you declare that your people were unfavorably disposed toward us?
One is compelled to believe that these evil intentions exist only in
your own mind and in your own heart."

Abbe Midon was silent. What could he reply?

He could not understand this sudden revolution in public opinion--this
abrupt change from gloom and discontent to excessive gayety.

There is somebody at the bottom of all this, he thought.

It was not long before it became apparent who that somebody was.

Emboldened by his success without, Chupin ventured to present himself at
the presbytery.

He entered the drawing-room with his back rounded into a circle,
scraping and cringing, an obsequious smile upon his lips.

And through the half-open door one could discern, in the shadows of the
passage, the far from reassuring faces of his two sons.