"No, thank you; I only want the skin of the rabbit that you are eating."
She pretended not to understand, but she was trembling.
"What rabbit?"
The brigadier had taken a seat, and was calmly wiping his forehead.
"Come, come, you are not going to try and make us believe that you live on couch gra.s.s. What were you eating there all by yourself for your dinner?"
"I? Nothing whatever, I swear to you. A mite of b.u.t.ter on my bread."
"You are a novice, my good woman. A mite of b.u.t.ter on your bread. You are mistaken; you ought to have said: a mite of b.u.t.ter on the rabbit. By G-, your b.u.t.ter smells good! It is special b.u.t.ter, extra good b.u.t.ter, b.u.t.ter fit for a wedding; certainly, not household b.u.t.ter!"
The gendarme was shaking with laughter, and repeated:
"Not household b.u.t.ter certainly."
As Brigadier Senateur was a joker, all the gendarmes had grown facetious, and the officer continued:
"Where is your b.u.t.ter?"
"My b.u.t.ter?"
"Yes, your b.u.t.ter."
"In the jar."
"Then where is the b.u.t.ter jar?"
"Here it is."
She brought out an old cup, at the bottom of which there was a layer of rancid salt b.u.t.ter, and the brigadier smelled of it, and said, with a shake of his head:
"It is not the same. I want the b.u.t.ter that smells of the rabbit. Come, Lenient, open your eyes; look under the sideboard, my good fellow, and I will look under the bed."
Having shut the door, he went up to the bed and tried to move it; but it was fixed to the wall, and had not been moved for more than half a century, apparently. Then the brigadier stooped, and made his uniform crack. A b.u.t.ton had flown off.
"Lenient," he said.
"Yes, brigadier?"
"Come here, my lad, and look under the bed; I am too tall. I will look after the sideboard."
He got up and waited while his man executed his orders.
Lenient, who was short and stout, took off his kepi, laid himself on his stomach, and, putting his face on the floor, looked at the black cavity under the bed, and then, suddenly, he exclaimed:
"All right, here we are!"
"What have you got? The rabbit?"
"No, the thief."
"The thief! Pull him out, pull him out!"
The gendarme had put his arms under the bed and laid hold of something, and he was pulling with all his might, and at last a foot, shod in a thick boot, appeared, which he was holding in his right hand. The brigadier took it, crying:
"Pull! Pull!"
And Lenient, who was on his knees by that time, was pulling at the other leg. But it was a hard job, for the prisoner kicked out hard, and arched up his back under the bed.
"Courage! courage! pull! pull!" Senateur cried, and they pulled him with all their strength, so that the wooden slat gave way, and he came out as far as his head; but at last they got that out also, and they saw the terrified and furious face of Polyte, whose arms remained stretched out under the bed.
"Pull away!" the brigadier kept on exclaiming. Then they heard a strange noise, and as the arms followed the shoulders, and the hands the arms, they saw in the hands the handle of a saucepan, and at the end of the handle the saucepan itself, which contained stewed rabbit.
"Good Lord! good Lord!" the brigadier shouted in his delight, while Lenient took charge of the man; the rabbit"s skin, an overwhelming proof, was discovered under the mattress, and then the gendarmes returned in triumph to the village with their prisoner and their booty.
A week later, as the affair had made much stir, Lecacheur, on going into the mairie to consult the schoolmaster, was told that the shepherd Severin had been waiting for him for more than an hour, and he found him sitting on a chair in a corner, with his stick between his legs. When he saw the mayor, he got up, took off his cap, and said:
"Good-morning, Maitre Cacheux"; and then he remained standing, timid and embarra.s.sed.
"What do you want?" the former said.
"This is it, monsieur. Is it true that somebody stole one of your rabbits last week?"
"Yes, it is quite true, Severin."
"Who stole the rabbit?"
"Polyte Ancas, the laborer."
"Right! right! And is it also true that it was found under my bed?"
"What do you mean, the rabbit?"
"The rabbit and then Polyte."
"Yes, my poor Severin, quite true, but who told you?"
"Pretty well everybody. I understand! And I suppose you know all about marriages, as you marry people?"
"What about marriage?"
"With regard to one"s rights."
"What rights?"
"The husband"s rights and then the wife"s rights."