A boy of fourteen stood frightened at the door.
"Here I am, mother," he said.
"Just bid him trot over to Haramont to tell Catherine not to be uneasy about me, as I have found my Aunt 'Gelique dead. Poor aunt!" He wiped away fresh tears. "That is what is keeping me here."
"You hear that, Fagotin? Then off you go."
"Go through Soissons Street," said the wise Farolet, "and notify Citizen Raynal that there is a case of sudden death to record at old Miss Pitou's."
The boy darted off on his double errand.
The crowd had kept increasing till there were a hundred before the door. Each had his own opinion on the cause of the decease, and all whispered among themselves.
"If Pitou is no fool, he will find some hoard smuggled away in an old sock, or in a crock, or in a hole in the chimney."
Dr. Raynal arrived in the midst of this, preceded by the head tax-gatherer.