and to the children, with whom she occasionally amused herself.  She ordered a few changes at Les Aigues, having sent to Paris for an architect; proposing, to the general’s great delight, to spend six months of every year on this magnificent estate.  Montcornet’s savings were soon spent on the architectural work and the exquisite new furniture sent from Paris.  Les Aigues thus received the last touch which made it a choice example of all the diverse elegancies of four centuries.

In 1821 the general was almost peremptorily urged by Sibilet to be at Les Aigues before the month of May.  Important matters had to be decided.  A lease of nine years, to the amount of thirty thousand francs, granted by Gaubertin in 1812 to a wood-merchant, fell in on the 15th of May of the current year.  Sibilet, anxious to prove his rectitude, was unwilling to be responsible for the renewal of the lease.  “You know, Monsieur le comte,” he wrote, “that I do not choose to profit by such matters.”  The wood-merchant claimed an indemnity, extorted from Madame Laguerre, through her hatred of litigation, and shared by him with Gaubertin.  This indemnity was based on the injury done to the woods by the peasants, who treated the forest of Les Aigues as if they had a right to cut the timber.  Messrs. Gravelot Brothers, wood-merchants in Paris, refused to pay their last quarter dues, offering to prove by an expert that the woods were reduced one-fifth in value, through, they said, the injurious precedent established by Madame Laguerre.

“I have already,” wrote Sibilet, “sued these men in the courts at Ville-aux-Fayes, for they have taken legal residence there, on account of this lease, with my old employer, Maitre Corbinet.  I fear we shall lose the suit.”

“It is a question of income, my dear,” said the general, showing the letter to his wife.  “Will you go down to Les Aigues a little earlier this year than last?”

“Go yourself, and I will follow you when the weather is warmer,” said the countess, not sorry to remain in Paris alone.

The general, who knew very well the canker that was eating into his revenues, departed without his wife, resolved to take vigorous measures.  In so doing he reckoned, as we shall see, without his Gaubertin.

CHAPTER VIII

THE GREAT REVOLUTIONS OF A LITTLE VALLEY

“Well, Maitre Sibilet,” said the general to his steward, the morning after his arrival, giving him a familiar title which showed how much he appreciated his services, “so we are, to use a ministerial phrase, at a crisis?”

“Yes, Monsieur le comte,” said Sibilet, following the general.

The fortunate possessor of Les Aigues was walking up and down in front of the steward’s house, along a little terrace where Madame Sibilet grew flowers, at the end of which was a wide stretch of meadow-land watered by the canal which Blondet has described.  From this point the chateau of Les Aigues was seen in the distance, and in like manner the profile, as it were, of the steward’s lodge was seen from Les Aigues.