"Pooh! But what did they tell you?"
"They told me nothing."
"Well, what then?"
"Then, after you left me I went on bargaining for oats."
"Yes. What next?"
"Next, the peasant who spoke to me asked for earnest-money; that was fair. I asked him for a receipt; that was fair, too. He wanted to go to a shop and write it. 'No,' I said. 'Here's a pencil; haven't you a scrap of paper about you? My hat will do for a table.' He tore off the back of a letter and gave me a receipt. There it is. Read it."
The sub-prefect took the paper, and read;--
"Received, of M. Jean-Louis Robier, the sum of fifty francs, on account, for thirty sacks of flour, which I engage to deliver to him May 28.
F. Terrien.
May 14, 1832."