Brunet, anxious not to witness this manoeuvre, which he readily foresaw, rushed after the keeper to help him up; then he placed him on the bank and wet his handkerchief in water to wash the eyes of the poor fellow, who, in spite of his agony, was trying to reach the brook.
"You are in the wrong, Vatel," said Brunet; "you have no right to enter houses, don't you see ?" The old woman, a little hump-backed creature, stood on the sill of the door, with her hands on her hips, darting flashes from her eyes and curses from her foaming lips shrill enough to be heard at Blangy.
"Ha! the villain, 'twas well done! May hell get you! To suspect me of cutting trees!--_me_, the most honest woman in the village.

To hunt me like vermin! I'd like to see you lose your cursed eyes, for then we'd have peace.

You are birds of ill-omen, the whole of you; you invent shameful stories to stir up strife between your master and us." The keeper allowed the sheriff to bathe his eyes and all the while the latter kept telling him that he was legally wrong.
"The old thief! she has tired us out," said Vatel at last.

"She has been at work in the woods all night." As the whole family had taken an active hand in hiding the live wood and putting things straight in the cottage, Tonsard presently appeared at the door with an insolent air.

"Vatel, my man, if you ever again dare to force your way into my domain, my gun shall answer you," he said.
"To-day you have had the ashes; the next time you shall have the fire.
You don't know your own business.