"Yes, yes."
"Well then, I says to myself: ‘I guess I’ll go and get my pickaxe.’ So I went out, and went into the garden; I was about in the middle of the broad path when I heard steps in front of me."
"Mon Dieu! how that frightens me!" said Jeannette, pressing against one of the scullions.
"I thought it was one of the gentlemen from the château," continued Vincent, "and I stopped politely to let him pass, and took off my hat; but no, he stopped too, and instead of coming toward me, he turned back. That appeared to me suspicious, so I called out: ‘Who’s that?’ but he didn’t answer; he walked faster than ever and I tried to follow him, but I ran into a tree, and then good-night! I didn’t hear anything more."
"Ah! what a strange thing!"
"Pshaw! perhaps it was our master as was taking a ramble."
"Oh, no indeed! he never goes alone into the garden at night."
"You ought to have asked the gentlemen the next morning."
"Faith, I slept on it, and I forgot all about it."
"We must ask Monsieur Férulus what it was," said the other servants. "He’s a man who knows everything, a scholar; he’ll tell us whether we ought to be afraid."