He declares, so I hear, that he will bring you if necessary before the Court of Appeals." "The rascal! the--" "If you attempt to work your own woods," continued Sibilet, turning the knife in the wound, "you will find yourself at the mercy of workmen who will force you to pay rich men's prices instead of market-prices.

In short, they'll put you, as they did that poor Mariotte, in a position where you must sell at a loss.

If you then try to lease the woods you will get no tenants, for you cannot expect that any one should take risks for himself which Mariotte only took for the crown and the State.
Suppose a man talks of his losses to the government! The government is a gentleman who is, like your obedient servant when he was in its employ, a worthy man with a frayed overcoat, who reads the newspapers at a desk.

Let his salary be twelve hundred or twelve thousand francs, his disposition is the same, it is not a whit softer.

Talk of reductions and releases from the public treasury represented by the said gentleman! He'll only pooh-pooh you as he mends his pen.