"I don't recognize her," said La Pignoux; "she has a mass of hair and feathers. She's a powerful woman!"
[LIV]
Our three friends were standing at the end of the kitchen by the oven, with their backs to the door and their faces turned toward a window, through which they could see the figures of the sentinels walking to and fro outside, carbine in hand.
There were two on each side of the house; an unnecessarily large supply, for the house had only two doors, one opening on the road, the other of the pantry, opening on a small garden enclosed by a hedge.
All the windows on the ground-floor and first floor were provided with stout bars. It was hopeless to think of forcing their way out.
And yet the marquis sighed with impatience.
"Ah! my son, why are you here?" he said to Mario. "With this stout kitchen knife I could soon get rid of the two sentinels walking back and forth in front of the pantry door. But with you—I should not dare; I am a coward."
"And if my man was here," rejoined Madame Pignoux, "old as he is, he and Jacques would take care of the others. But I am very much afraid they have killed my poor servant! Good God! there he is! Just see how those devils have treated him! He's all covered with blood!"
Jacques le Bréchaud, so-called because he was gap-toothed,[9] was ugly, crafty and bad-tempered, but brave and devoted.
"Don't pay any attention to me," he said, "but give me a dish-clout to wipe my face."