Dubourg found his postilion, and, putting a five-franc piece in his hand, ordered him to start at once. In a very few minutes, the horses were harnessed, and the noble palatine's berlin was out of the village.
"But how are you going to manage about going away to-morrow?" queried Goton, who had just joined Dubourg in the yard.
"Oh! we have another carriage, an excellent post chaise, which is being repaired for us; as to what I have just done, I am going to tell you what you must say; do you understand, Goton?"
As he spoke, he slipped two five-franc pieces into the girl's pocket; it was a larger sum than the poor drudge often earned in six months at that wretched inn, and the sight of the two great coins made her as docile as a lamb.
"Oh! that's enough," she said, as Dubourg put his arms about her robust figure; "that's enough! I'll say whatever you want me to; anyway, that carriage was yours, and you could do what you please with it. Jarni! you tickle me! don't pinch so hard! Oh! what a man!"
"Where is your room, Goton?"
"My room? I haven't got any room; I sleep in the little barn over there, with the cow. Dame! I don't have anything but an old straw bed on the ground, because the missus says there's no use of wearing out sheets. But it ain't cold there, anyway; Bebelle keeps me warm."
"Who's Bebelle?"
"Why, she's our cow. Oh! she's so soft and warm! But how he pinches! Dieu! what a pincher you are!"
"Come to your room; we can talk better there; with you, Goton, the barn becomes a boudoir, and straw, feathers."