'From what place does monsieur come?'
'Never mind,' answered Berthier angrily, 'I am too hungry to answer questions; if you answer one that a woman makes, you must answer a thousand.'
The old woman retired muttering.
The peasants, between their spoonfuls of soup, continued the conversation in which they had been engaged outside the door.
'He has not been captured yet?' asked one of the men.
'No, Pierre; but he was seen at Senlis. Do you know that baker, named Michaud, in the square before Notre Dame, at the corner? Well, he went in there to buy a brioche, and the good man knew him; he had seen him when he superintended the buying of the corn in Artois. He did not say much then; he just mentioned it to some of his acquaintances, and they spread the news through the city. But the magistrates do nothing.'
'Why should they, Jean?' asked the other; 'hawks do not prey on hawks, and you will not find magistrates over-zealous in bringing other magistrates to book.'
'And which direction do you think he has taken now?'
'I expect he is on his way to Clermont, and so by Amiens to Lille.'
'Who will arrest him, Pierre?'