That name, which Emile had heard before, for somebody had mentioned it in his presence at Gargilesse as that of one of the richest landed proprietors in the neighborhood, produced the effect of an electric shock on the inhabitants of Châteaubrun: Gilberte jumped; Antoine and Janille stared at each other, unable to utter a word.
"That surprises you a little, does it?" continued the carpenter.
"It seems impossible," replied Janille. "Are you joking? Monsieur de Boisguilbault, the enemy of all of us?"
"Why say so?" said Monsieur Antoine. "That man is nobody's enemy intentionally; he has always done good, never harm."
"For my part," said Gilberte, "I was sure that he was capable of a good action. What did I tell you, dear little mother? he's an unhappy man, anybody can see that on his face; but——"
"But you don't know him," rejoined Janille, "and you can't say anything about him. Come, Jean, tell us by what miracle you succeeded in approaching that cold, stern, haughty man."
"Chance, or rather the good Lord did it all," replied the carpenter. "I was going through the little wood that skirts his park, and is separated from it at that point only by a hedge and a narrow ditch. I glanced over the hedge to see how beautiful and neat and well-kept everything was. I was thinking, a little sadly, that I had once been perfectly at home in that park and that château; that I had worked there for twenty years, and that I had been fond of monsieur le marquis, although he was never very amiable. Still he had his kind days in those times; and yet, for another twenty years I hadn't put my foot on his land, and I shouldn't dare to ask him for shelter after what had taken place between him and me.
"As I was thinking of all this, I heard two horses trotting, and the next moment I saw two gendarmes riding straight toward me. They hadn't seen me then; but if I crossed their road they couldn't fail to see me, and they knew my face so well! I had no time for reflection. I plunged into the hedge, ran through it like a fox, and found myself in Boisguilbault park, where I quietly lay down against the fence, while my friends the gendarmes rode by without so much as turning their heads in my direction. When they had gone some little distance, I stood up and was preparing to go out as I had come, when suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned, to find myself face to face with Monsieur de Boisguilbault, who said to me with his sad face and his sepulchral voice: 'What are you doing here?'
"'Faith, as you see, monsieur le marquis, I am hiding.'
"'Why are you hiding?'