While Simonne finished attending to Fergan, the baker continued the narrative that his wife had commenced: "Noticing that the knight of Haut-Pourcin leaned over the terrace several times, I profited by a moment when he had withdrawn; I slided along the wall to the foot of the house; as the projection of the balcony prevented him from seeing me, I watched for my man; the instant he again put out his head I snatched him up with the hook of my poker exactly at the jointure of his casque and his cuirass with might and main; Simonne came and helped; and we had the satisfaction of making that noble personage turn a somersault from the height of the terrace down to the street; our communiers ran by; the episcopals rushed out of the knight's house to deliver him; they were driven back and we stormed the building!"
"And lo!" cried Simonne heroically, "I, who did not leave the heels of Ancel, find myself face to face with that old hag of the dame of Haut-Pourcin, who was yelling like a fury: 'Kill! Kill! No quarter for those vile clowns! Exterminate them!' I was seized with rage, and recalling the insults that the harpy had poured upon me shortly before I threw her down, grabbed her by the throat, and, as true as Ancel is called Quatre-Mains, I slapped her face as thoroughly as if I was endowed with six hands, all the while saying to her: 'Take this! and that! you proud dame of Haut-Pourcin. Take this, and that, and still another, you wicked old hag! Oh, my gallants pay for my skirts, do they! Very well, I pay cash, and in round sums for the insults I receive!' Upon the faith of a Picardian woman, had her hair not been gray, like my mother's, I would have strangled the she-devil!"
Fergan could not help smiling at the exaltation of Simonne. He then said to Ancel: "When I heard the large bell of the cathedral ringing in a peculiar way, I concluded it was the signal agreed upon between the bishop and his partisans to attack our people simultaneously from within and from without the city."
"You were not mistaken, neighbor. At that signal, the episcopals, who had laid their plans and gathered their forces over night, sallied forth from their houses crying: 'Kill, kill the communiers!' Other noblemen also were besieged in their houses. The fight was going on with the same vigor on the streets and squares, while a troop of episcopals betook itself to the ramparts on the side of the bishop's gate."
"Expecting to fall from the rear upon our people who they thought were being attacked in front," said Fergan. "For that reason I ordered my son to be on his guard. You assure me he is not wounded? God be praised!"
"If he is wounded, neighbor Fergan," replied Simonne, "it can only be slightly. He called out to us from the top of the ramparts: 'Victory! Victory! Our people are masters of the bishop's palace!'"
"And now," said Quatre-Mains, "meseems the Mayor and Councilmen should meet at the Town Hall to consider what is to be done."
"I think so, too, Ancel. We shall leave here a sufficient force to keep the palace. Watch shall continue to be held on the ramparts of the city, whose gates shall be closed and barricaded. Let's not deceive ourselves. However legitimate our insurrection, we must be prepared to see Louis the Lusty return to lay siege to the city at the head of the re-inforcements that he has gone to fetch. The Princes are on the side of the clergy."
"I think so, too," replied the Councilman with resignation and fortitude: "John Molrain said to the royal messenger: 'The King of the French is all-powerful in Gaul; the Commune of Laon is strong only in its right and the courage of its inhabitants.' We shall fight as well as we may against Louis the Lusty and his army; and we shall, if need be, be killed to the last man."
"Thank you for your kind nursing, good neighbor," Fergan said to Simonne; "I now feel in good trim. My poor Joan will be jealous."