He refused.
This time the good gossips had no trouble.
“He is an ignorant man, of no education.
No one knows where he came from.
He would not know how to behave in society.
It has not been absolutely proved that he knows how to read.”
When they saw him making money, they said,
“He is a man of business.”
When they saw him scattering his money about, they said,
“He is an ambitious man.”
When he was seen to decline honors, they said,
“He is an adventurer.”
When they saw him repulse society, they said,
“He is a brute.”
In 1820, five years after his arrival in M. sur M., the services which he had rendered to the district were so dazzling, the opinion of the whole country round about was so unanimous, that the King again appointed him mayor of the town.
He again declined; but the prefect resisted his refusal, all the notabilities of the place came to implore him, the people in the street besought him; the urging was so vigorous that he ended by accepting.
It was noticed that the thing which seemed chiefly to bring him to a decision was the almost irritated apostrophe addressed to him by an old woman of the people, who called to him from her threshold, in an angry way:
“A good mayor is a useful thing.
Is he drawing back before the good which he can do?”
This was the third phase of his ascent.
Father Madeleine had become Monsieur Madeleine. Monsieur Madeleine became Monsieur le Maire.
CHAPTER III—SUMS DEPOSITED WITH LAFFITTE
On the other hand, he remained as simple as on the first day. He had gray hair, a serious eye, the sunburned complexion of a laborer, the thoughtful visage of a philosopher.
He habitually wore a hat with a wide brim, and a long coat of coarse cloth, buttoned to the chin.
He fulfilled his duties as mayor; but, with that exception, he lived in solitude.
He spoke to but few people.
He avoided polite attentions; he escaped quickly; he smiled to relieve himself of the necessity of talking; he gave, in order to get rid of the necessity for smiling.
The women said of him, “What a good-natured bear!”
His pleasure consisted in strolling in the fields.
He always took his meals alone, with an open book before him, which he read.
He had a well-selected little library.
He loved books; books are cold but safe friends.
In proportion as leisure came to him with fortune, he seemed to take advantage of it to cultivate his mind.
It had been observed that, ever since his arrival at M. sur M., his language had grown more polished, more choice, and more gentle with every passing year.
He liked to carry a gun with him on his strolls, but he rarely made use of it.
When he did happen to do so, his shooting was something so infallible as to inspire terror. He never killed an inoffensive animal.
He never shot at a little bird.
Although he was no longer young, it was thought that he was still prodigiously strong. He offered his assistance to any one who was in need of it, lifted a horse, released a wheel clogged in the mud, or stopped a runaway bull by the horns.
He always had his pockets full of money when he went out; but they were empty on his return.
When he passed through a village, the ragged brats ran joyously after him, and surrounded him like a swarm of gnats.
It was thought that he must, in the past, have lived a country life, since he knew all sorts of useful secrets, which he taught to the peasants.
He taught them how to destroy scurf on wheat, by sprinkling it and the granary and inundating the cracks in the floor with a solution of common salt; and how to chase away weevils by hanging up orviot in bloom everywhere, on the walls and the ceilings, among the grass and in the houses.
He had “recipes” for exterminating from a field, blight, tares, foxtail, and all parasitic growths which destroy the wheat.
He defended a rabbit warren against rats, simply by the odor of a guinea-pig which he placed in it.
One day he saw some country people busily engaged in pulling up nettles; he examined the plants, which were uprooted and already dried, and said:
“They are dead.
Nevertheless, it would be a good thing to know how to make use of them.
When the nettle is young, the leaf makes an excellent vegetable; when it is older, it has filaments and fibres like hemp and flax.
Nettle cloth is as good as linen cloth.
Chopped up, nettles are good for poultry; pounded, they are good for horned cattle.