"Yes, if the sight of one soldier gives you twenty-four hours of inanition, you'll certainly die of starvation outright if you pass a whole night under the same roof as a regiment."
"A regiment?"
"Yes, a regiment. I have invited a regiment to sup at Souday to-night; and the regard I have for you obliges me to send you off, hot foot, at once. Only, be careful which way you go because those scamps the soldiers if they catch you in the fields, or rather in the woods, at this time of night may take you for what you are not--I mean to say, for what you are."
"What then?"
"What then! why, they'd honor you with a shot or two, and the muskets of M. le Duc d'Orléans are loaded with ball, you know."
The notary turned pale and stammered a few unintelligible words.
"Decide; you have the choice,--death by hunger, or by guns. You've no time to lose; I hear the tramp of men--and there! precisely!--that's the general knocking at the gate."
Sure enough, the knocker resounded; this time it was vigorously handled, as became the guest whose arrival it announced.
"In company with Monsieur le marquis," said Loriot, "I will conquer my aversion, invincible as it is."
"Good! then take that torch and go with me to meet my guests."