The things we do!

-- Woe to the nobles, especially if they
have taken any part in local rule, and if they are opposed to
popular panics! M. Cureau, deputy-mayor of Mans,[34] had issued
orders during the famine, and, having retired to his chateau of
Nouay, had told the peasants that the announcement of the coming of
brigands was a false alarm; he thought that it was not necessary to
sound the alarm bell, and all that was necessary was that they
should remain quiet. Accordingly he is set down as being in league
with the brigands, and besides this he is a monopolist, and a buyer
of standing crops. The peasants lead him off; along with his son-
in-law, M. de Montesson, to the neighboring village, where there
are judges. On the way "they dragged their victims on the ground,
pummeled them, trampled on them, spit in their faces, and besmeared
them with filth." M. de Montesson is shot, while M. Cureau is killed
by degrees; a carpenter cuts off the two heads with a double-edged
ax, and children bear them along to the sound of drums and violins.


Pages:
166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190