"How imprudent these peasants are!" he cried; "a door that can be opened from outside! We’re about as safe as we should be on the high road! I say! Monsieur Claude! boys! Hallo! old grandpa! why don’t you answer?"
Robineau’s outcries and the uproar he made roused the old man.
"What’s the matter with you, monsieur?" he said.
"The matter with me! Why, I think it’s an outrage that there isn’t so much as a bolt on your door! The first thief that passes can come in and murder us."
"Oh! monsieur, there ain’t no thieves in this part of the country! Besides, we ain’t got anything to steal!"
"You haven’t! that’s just it! There’s selfishness for you! They think only of themselves.—But, old peasant, I shouldn’t be pleased if they stole no more than my hat.—I say, old man——"
The old man had fallen asleep again, and Alfred said to Robineau:
"For heaven’s sake, let these good people sleep in peace! Are you going to make this noise much longer?"
"Ah! so you’re not asleep either?"
"Parbleu! with such a row as you are making!"