Emile and Madame Montcornet looked at each other with some surprise, and seemed to say to the abbe, “The boy is not a fool!”

“It is quite true, madame,” said the abbe after the child had gone, “that we cannot reckon with Poverty.  I believe it has hidden excuses of which God alone can judge,—­physical excuses, often congenital; moral excuses, born in the character, produced by an order of things that are often the result of qualities which, unhappily for society, have no vent.  Deeds of heroism performed upon the battle-field ought to teach us that the worst scoundrels may become heroes.  But here in this place you are living under exceptional circumstances; and if your benevolence is not controlled by reflection and judgment you run the risk of supporting your enemies.”

“Our enemies?” exclaimed the countess.

“Cruel enemies,” said the general, gravely.

“Pere Fourchon and his son-in-law Tonsard,” said the abbe, “are the strength and the intelligence of the lower classes of this valley, who consult them on all occasions.  The Machiavelism of these people is beyond belief.  Ten peasants meeting in a tavern are the small change of great political questions.”

Just then Francois announced Monsieur Sibilet.

“He is my minister of finance,” said the general, smiling; “ask him in.  He will explain to you the gravity of the situation,” he added, looking at his wife and Blondet.

“Because he has reasons of his own for not concealing it,” said the cure, in a low tone.

Blondet then beheld a personage of whom he had heard much ever since his arrival, and whom he desired to know, the land-steward of Les Aigues.  He saw a man of medium height, about thirty years of age, with a sulky look and a discontented face, on which a smile sat ill.  Beneath an anxious brow a pair of greenish eyes evaded the eyes of others, and so disguised their thought.  Sibilet was dressed in a brown surtout coat, black trousers and waistcoat, and wore his hair long and flat to the head, which gave him a clerical look.  His trousers barely concealed that he was knock-kneed.  Though his pallid complexion and flabby flesh gave the impression of an unhealthy constitution, Sibilet was really robust.  The tones of his voice, which were a little thick, harmonized with this unflattering exterior.

Blondet gave a hasty look at the abbe, and the glance with which the young priest answered it showed the journalist that his own suspicions about the steward were certainties to the curate.

“Did you not tell me, my dear Sibilet,” said the general, “that you estimate the value of what the peasants steal from us at a quarter of the whole revenue?”