"There goes!" screamed out the delighted porteress. "Capital! Ha, ha, ha! there they are! two regular sops, in the pan! Well, I do enjoy this!"
"What the devil is this?" exclaimed Malicorne, thoroughly soaked with the hot, greasy liquid. "I say, I wish you would mind what you are about up there, you old figure of fun!"
"Alfred!" bawled Madame Pipelet, in a tone sharp and shrill enough to have split the tympanum of a deaf man; "Alfred, my old darling, have at 'em! They wanted to behave ill to your 'Stasie (Anastasie)! The nasty fellows have been taking liberties,—quite violent! Knock them down with your broom! And call the oyster-woman, and the man at the wine-vaults, to help you! Get out, you! Get—get—get out! Cht, cht, cht! Thieves! thieves! robbers! Cht—b-r-r-r-r-r-r—hou, hou, hou! Knock them—knock them down! That's right, old dear! Pay them off! Break their bones! Serve them out! Boum, boum, boum!"
And, by way of conclusion to this concatenation of discordant noises, accompanied by a constant succession of stamping and kicking of feet, Madame Pipelet, carried away by the excitement of the moment, flung her earthen stewpan to the bottom of the staircase, which, breaking into a thousand pieces at the very instant that the two bailiffs, terrified by the yells and noises from overhead, were precipitately descending the stairs with hasty strides, added not a little to their terror.
"Ah, ah, ah!" cried Anastasie, bursting into loud fits of laughter. "Now be off with you,—I think you have had enough!" Then, crossing her arms, she stood, like a triumphant Amazon, rejoicing in the victory she had achieved.
While Madame Pipelet was thus venting her rage upon the bailiffs, Morel had thrown himself, in heartfelt gratitude, at the feet of Rodolph.
"Ah, sir," exclaimed he, when at last words came to his assistance, "you have saved a whole family! To whom do we owe this unhoped-for assistance?"
"'To the God who watches over and protects all honest men,' as your immortal Béranger says."
Note.—The following are some curious particulars relative to bodily restraint, as cited in the "Pauvre Jacques," a journal published under the patronage of the "Society for the Furtherance and Protection of Christianity:"
(Prison Committee.) (Comité des Prisons.)