"What a question!" said the good man. "I am always ready for that, my old friend."
"Thank you, it is not a very great request. Can you spare me Jean-Louis for a fortnight? I have twenty men at work in the wood of Montreux, and no one to oversee them. The young fellow can help me a great deal."
"Very willingly," said Ragaud; "the hemp is nearly ready, and I do not want Jeannet just now."
"He will take his meals with me," replied Michou, "and sleep at my house the nights. He will be obliged to work late; so you need not be uneasy if he does not return home sometimes."
"Agreed," said Ragaud. "Do you employ the wood-cutters of the neighborhood?"
"Deuce take it, no!" replied Michou. "I hire them right and left, and truly they are the stupidest asses. The way they talk makes one's hair stand up under his cap."
"Bah! what do they say?"
"Devilish nonsense! Why, they talk of nothing but revolution, overthrowing everything and everybody, massacring the nobility, and theft. I remember how my father, long ago, told me about the people before the Reign of Terror, and I imagine these men must be something of the same stamp. Some of them disappear sometimes; when they return, they speak in whispers, and, when I order them to go to work, you should see the way they glare at me. It is very well I don't know what fear means; but, reinforced by Jeannet, all will go well."
"Take him right away," said Ragaud; "and if he is not enough, well, send for me; I will give you a helping hand."
"You?" replied Michou, who commenced to mumble over his pipe. "You are too busy in this house with the wedding."