"My mother is still awake; I am sure of it. She is watching for me; she would see us enter. Your disguise we might find some reason for; but that of your companion, which has not escaped me, how could we explain it to her?"
"He is right," said Petit-Pierre.
"But what else can we do?"
"And," continued Michel, "it is not only my mother that I fear, but--"
"What else?"
"Wait!" said the baron, looking uneasily about him; "let us get away from these bushes."
"The devil!"
"I mean Courtin."
"Courtin? Who is he?"
"Don't you remember Courtin the farmer?"