They drank, then the dancing began again; they stopped again to drink, then returned to their capering. This lasted four hours, for the Auvergnats are indefatigable drinkers and dancers.
But it was after eleven o’clock; the open-air ball-room, which had been indifferently well lighted with candle ends, began to grow dark. Alfred and Edouard had taken their partners to walk in the garden, and the village maidens had returned to the dance in some slight disarray. Some papas and mammas were sleeping on the benches; Monsieur Férulus had taken his leave long before, and Robineau, who was anxious to retire, was thinking that he would be glad to show his guests to the door, when he heard outcries and loud oaths from one part of the assemblage.
Messieurs Vincent and Cunette did not dance, but they had not stopped drinking since the opening of the ball. The concierge had finished himself, and the gardener had attained the level reached by his comrade. But Monsieur Vincent was ugly in his cups; it took very little to anger him, and then he always wanted to fight everybody. He had fallen into a dispute with an Auvergnat, and they had already come to blows, Cunette, like a staunch friend, taking Vincent’s part, when Robineau, who was very angry that anyone should presume to fight on his premises, appeared on the scene, not doubting for an instant that his presence would suffice to restore tranquillity.
"What! is it my concierge and my gardener who are making all this noise?" he said as he drew near. "Why are you fighting, knaves?"
"Go to the devil! Let us alone!" said Cunette, not recognizing his master. "I am defending my friend Vincent, and——"
"Villain! do you dare to speak thus to me?"
"I’ll hit you if you come any nearer!" cried Vincent, striking to right and left; and the new seigneur, being in the midst of the mêlée, was in imminent danger of receiving a storm of blows, when Mademoiselle Cheval succeeded in forcing her way through the crowd, and taking her master in her arms as easily as if she were lifting a child, she bore him away, clearing a passage by distributing fisticuffs on every side.
Meanwhile François, Alfred and Edouard, each armed with a broomstick, succeeded in driving all the guests outside the walls. Messieurs Cunette and Vincent went to bed, and peace finally reigned once more within the château.
"That was a very nice party!" said Alfred, as he and Edouard returned, laughing heartily, from expelling the peasants.
"Oh, yes!" replied Robineau, feeling his ribs, "I shan’t forget my ball! If ever I ask those worthies to dance here again!—Ouf! what an infernal racket! I came near being beaten to death!—And how disrespectful my servants were. I will discharge them to-morrow."