But being, as we have seen, sheltered and protected by the keepers, they showed no conscience in their proceedings,--entering vineyards before the harvesters were out of them, just as they swarmed into the wheat-fields before the sheaves were made.

So, the seven or eight casks of wine, as much gleaned as harvested, were sold for a good price.
However, out of these various proceeds the Grand-I-Vert was mulcted in a good sum for the personal consumption of Tonsard and his wife, who wanted the best of everything to eat, and better wine than they sold,--which they obtained from their friend at Soulanges in payment for their own.

In short, the money scraped together by this family amounted to about nine hundred francs, for they fattened two pigs a year, one for themselves and the other to sell.
The idlers and scapegraces and also the laborers took a fancy to the tavern of the Grand-I-Vert, partly because of La Tonsard's merits, and partly on account of the hail-fellow-well-met relation existing between this family and the lower classes of the valley.

The two daughters, both remarkably handsome, followed the example of their mother as to morals.
Moreover, the long established fame of the Grand-I-Vert, dating from 1795, made it a venerable spot in the eyes of the common people.

From Conches to Ville-aux-Fayes, workmen came there to meet and make their bargains and hear the news collected by the Tonsard women and by Mouche and old Fourchon, or supplied by Vermichel and Brunet, that renowned official, when he came to the tavern in search of his practitioner.
There the price of hay and of wine was settled; also that of a day's work and of piece-work.