"That may be," rejoined Claudine, "but what made her fall? because Isaure had touched her; do you suppose she’d have lost her footing if it hadn’t been for that?"
"True," said the old man.
"These are the arguments of ignorance," said Edouard; "the simplest things become supernatural in the eyes of these honest folk! They do not care to seek causes, they refer everything to the first idea that strikes them; and behold a girl, who is perhaps a pretty, gentle creature, becomes an object of terror to these mountaineers, because she lives quietly in a place which they imagine to be inhabited by the devil! But these peasants never leave their hovels, so they are excusable! Think how many people there are in our large cities in whom education has not destroyed superstition!"
"I say, Edouard, you, who have all the sentiments of a paladin of old,—fidelity excepted,—ought to do as they do in the Château du Diable, an old play that was formerly acted in the Cité—visit this haunted mansion and deliver young Isaure, who may be a princess in disguise, from the spell which keeps her with her cows and goats! For my own part, I propose to see the girl to-morrow; I wish with all my heart that she might prove to be a witch; for, having never seen one, I should be enchanted to know how they are made. You will go with us to see the White House, won’t you, Robineau?"
"Oh! messieurs, it’s to be hoped that I shall be in my château to-morrow; then you can wander where you choose, but the deuce take me if I go with you! I shall remember too long our journey through the mountains!"
The young men laughed at their companion’s ill humor. But the evening meal was at an end and the Auvergnats were already thinking of going to rest.
"Messieurs," said Claude, "I wish I had beds to offer you, but we sleep on plain straw, and that’s all we’ve got to give you, with some sheepskins I keep for the winter."
"We shall be very comfortable," said Alfred; "besides, a night is soon passed."
"If you have no bed," said Robineau, with a grimace, "at least give me the sheepskins; they’ll be softer than your straw!"
"Yes, monsieur; I’ll go fix ’em for you."