"The lands have all been sold," rejoined the préfet curtly, "to worthy farmers whom it were a scandal to dispossess...."
"Are we dispossessing any one, my dear M. Dubois?" queried Fouché, with an indulgent smile directed at the other's Republican ardour—"any one, I mean, who happens to have bought confiscated land?"
"Not yet," muttered the other under his breath; "but...."
"As you were saying, M. le Préfet?..." here interposed the Minister more haughtily, "Mme. la Marquise de Mortain is a widow, I think."
"Yes. For the second time."
"She was first the wife of Bertrand de Maurel...."
"Who would have been a good patriot had he lived."
"We must imagine so," said Fouché, with a smile.
"He died in '82—separated from his wife whom he hated."