"You will come to a bad
end with a tongue like that! If it were not for the respect I owe to
Monsieur de Marigny----"
"Marigny's pistol!" interrupted Rosette.
"Ah, bah! What is to prevent my abandoning you?" asked the farmer
furiously.
Rosette swung her bare legs thoughtfully. "Papa Marigny is a man of his
word--and you lack five of your half-dozen lives, Jean Paulet."
"See you it is dangerous!" returned her protector desperately. "My wife
she is not here to advise me; she is in the fields----"
"I have noticed she works hard," murmured Rosette.
[Sidenote: To the Uplands!]
"And I will not keep you here. But for the respect I owe Monsieur de
Marigny, I am willing to sacrifice something. I have a dozen of sheep in
the field down there--ah! la, la! they represent a lifetime's savings,
but I will sacrifice them for my safety--no, no; for Monsieur de
Marigny, I mean!" he wailed. "You shall drive them to the uplands and
stay there out of danger. I do not think you will meet with soldiers;
but if you do, at the worst they will only take a sheep--ah! my sheep!"
he broke off distressfully. "Now do not argue. Get you gone before my
wife returns. See, I will put a little food in this handkerchief. There,
you may tell Monsieur de Marigny I have been loyal to him. Go, go! and,
above all, remember never to come near me again, or say those sheep are
mine. You will be safe, quite safe.
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