They both remembered how Dr. Guibert had attended and saved their children. They strove hard to reconcile their opinions and their prospects of re-election.
Furious at this reverse which followed his victory, and also excited by the wine he had drunk, Pitet shouted: “Haven’t you been told that it is too much honor? Can’t you hear? I tell you, don’t argue!”
“What?” exclaimed the Mayor, purple in the face.
The schoolmaster interrupted in honeyed tones:
“The logical thing is to give the message to the police. They carry the Mayor’s orders in the town. A policeman can take the telegram and explain that the Mayor has sent him in person.”
“That, of course, is the only right way,” said Pitet approvingly.
No sooner said than done. Faroux, the policeman, was sent for, and the schoolmaster gave him the Mayor’s instructions with the telegram. A few more glasses were drunk and the party broke up.
Old Randon, who was waiting for his cart, was left alone in Simon’s bar. For a few minutes the two men found nothing more to say. They were thinking of the effect of the message, which they had forgotten in their discussion.
“We are cowards,” the Mayor admitted at last, and the councillor heartily agreed.
As a matter of fact, they were no more cowardly than the average man. They simply represented the attitude of honest men confronted by bullies.