No reply had they to the coarse jest with which he and his fellow-servant rode off.

But La Boulaye, who, from the point where he and Duhamel had halted, had observed the whole scene from its inception, turned now a livid face upon his companion.
"Shall such things be ?" he cried passionately.

"Merciful God! Are we men, Duhamel, and do we permit such things to take place ?" The old pedagogue shrugged his shoulders in despair.

His face was heavily scored by sorrow.
"Helas!" he sighed.

"Are they not masters of all that they may take?
The Marquis goes no further than is by ancient law allowed his class.