The Rabbit

by Guy de Maupassant

Old Lecacheur appeared at the door of his house between five and aquarter past five in the morning, his usual hour, to watch his men goingto work.He was only half awake, his face was red, and with his right eye open andthe left nearly closed, he was buttoning his braces over his fat stomachwith some difficulty, at the same time looking into every corner of thefarmyard with a searching glance. The sun darted its oblique raysthrough the beech trees by the side of the ditch and athwart the appletrees outside, and was making the cocks crow on the dunghill, and thepigeons coo on the roof. The smell of the cow stable came through theopen door, and blended in the fresh morning air with the pungent odor ofthe stable, where the horses were neighing, with their heads turnedtoward the light.As soon as his trousers were properly fastened, Lecacheur came out, andwent, first of all, toward the hen house to count the morning's eggs, forhe had been afraid of thefts for some time; but the servant girl ran upto him with lifted arms and cried:"Master! master! they have stolen a rabbit during the night.""A rabbit?""Yes, master, the big gray rabbit, from the hutch on the left"; whereuponthe farmer completely opened his left eye, and said, simply:"I must see about that."And off he went to inspect it. The hutch had been broken open and therabbit was gone. Then he became thoughtful, closed his right eye again,and scratched his nose, and after a little consideration, he said to thefrightened girl, who was standing stupidly before her master:"Go and fetch the gendarmes; say I expect them as soon as possible."Lecacheur was mayor of the village, Pavigny-le-Gras, and ruled it like amaster, on account of his money and position, and as soon as the servanthad disappeared in the direction of the village, which was only aboutfive hundred yards off, he went into the house to have his morning coffeeand to discuss the matter with his wife, whom he found on her knees infront of the fire, trying to make it burn quickly, and as soon as he gotto the door, he said:"Somebody has stolen the gray rabbit."She turned round so suddenly that she found herself sitting on the floor,and looking at her husband with distressed eyes, she said:"What is it, Cacheux? Somebody has stolen a rabbit?""The big gray one."She sighed."What a shame! Who can have done it?"She was a little, thin, active, neat woman, who knew all about farming.Lecacheur had his own ideas about the matter."It must be that fellow, Polyte."His wife got up suddenly and said in a furious voice:"He did it! he did it! You need not look for any one else. He did it!You have said it, Cacheux!"All her peasant's fury, all her avarice, all her rage of a saving womanagainst the man of whom she had always been suspicious, and against thegirl whom she had always suspected, showed themselves in the contractionof her mouth, and the wrinkles in the cheeks and forehead of her thin,exasperated face."And what have you done?" she asked."I have sent for the gendarmes."This Polyte was a laborer, who had been employed on the farm for a fewdays, and who had been dismissed by Lecacheur for an insolent answer. Hewas an old soldier, and was supposed to have retained his habits ofmarauding and debauchery front his campaigns in Africa. He did anythingfor a livelihood, but whether he were a mason, a navvy, a reaper, whetherhe broke stones or lopped trees, he was always lazy, and so he remainednowhere for long, and had, at times, to change his neighborhood to obtainwork.From the first day that he came to the farm, Lecacheur's wife haddetested him, and now she was sure that he had committed the theft.In about half an hour the two gendarmes arrived. Brigadier Senateur wasvery tall and thin, and Gendarme Lenient short and fat. Lecacheur madethem sit down, and told them the affair, and then they went and saw thescene of the theft, in order to verify the fact that the hutch had beenbroken open, and to collect all the proofs they could. When they gotback to the kitchen, the mistress brought in some wine, filled theirglasses, and asked with a distrustful look:"Shall you catch him?"The brigadier, who had his sword between his legs, appeared thoughtful.Certainly, he was sure of taking him, if he was pointed out to him, butif not, he could not answer for being able to discover him, himself, andafter reflecting for a long time, he put this simple question:"Do you know the thief?"And Lecacheur replied, with a look of Normandy slyness in his eyes:"As for knowing him, I do not, as I did not see him commit the theft.If I had seen him, I should have made him eat it raw, skin and flesh,without a drop of cider to wash it down. But as for saying who it is,I cannot, although I believe it is that good-for-nothing Polyte."Then he related at length his troubles with Polyte, his leaving hisservice, his bad reputation, things which had been told him, accumulatinginsignificant and minute proofs, and then, the brigadier, who had beenlistening very attentively while he emptied his glass and filled it againwith an indifferent air, turned to his gendarme and said:"We must go and look in the cottage of Severin's wife." At which thegendarme smiled and nodded three times.Then Madame Lecacheur came to them, and very quietly, with all apeasant's cunning, questioned the brigadier in her turn. That shepherdSeverin, a simpleton, a sort of brute who had been brought up and hadgrown up among his bleating flocks, and who knew scarcely anythingbesides them in the world, had nevertheless preserved the peasant'sinstinct for saving, at the bottom of his heart. For years and years hemust have hidden in hollow trees and crevices in the rocks all that heearned, either as a shepherd or by curing animals' sprains--for thebonesetter's secret had been handed down to him by the old shepherd whoseplace he took-by touch or word, and one day he bought a small property,consisting of a cottage and a field, for three thousand francs.A few months later it became known that he was going to marry a servant,notorious for her bad morals, the innkeeper's servant. The young fellowssaid that the girl, knowing that he was pretty well off, had been to hiscottage every night, and had taken him, captured him, led him on tomatrimony, little by little night by night.And then, having been to the mayor's office and to church, she now livedin the house which her man had bought, while he continued to tend hisflocks, day and night, on the plains.And the brigadier added:"Polyte has been sleeping there for three weeks, for the thief has noplace of his own to go to!"The gendarme made a little joke:"He takes the shepherd's blankets."Madame Lecacheur, who was seized by a fresh access of rage, of rageincreased by a married woman's anger against debauchery, exclaimed:"It is she, I am sure. Go there. Ah, the blackguard thieves!But the brigadier was quite unmoved."One minute," he said. "Let us wait until twelve o'clock, as he goes anddines there every day. I shall catch them with it under their noses."The gendarme smiled, pleased at his chief's idea, and Lecacheur alsosmiled now, for the affair of the shepherd struck him as very funny;deceived husbands are always a joke.Twelve o'clock had just struck when the brigadier, followed by his man,knocked gently three times at the door of a little lonely house, situatedat the corner of a wood, five hundred yards from the village.They had been standing close against the wall, so as not to be seen fromwithin, and they waited. As nobody answered, the brigadier knocked againin a minute or two. It was so quiet that the house seemed uninhabited;but Lenient, the gendarme, who had very quick ears, said that he heardsomebody moving about inside, and then Senateur got angry. He would notallow any one to resist the authority of the law for a moment, and,knocking at the door with the hilt of his sword, he cried out:"Open the door, in the name of the law."As this order had no effect, he roared out:"If you do not obey, I shall smash the lock. I am the brigadier of thegendarmerie, by G--! Here, Lenient."He had not finished speaking when the door opened and Senateur saw beforehim a fat girl, with a very red, blowzy face, with drooping breasts, abig stomach and broad hips, a sort of animal, the wife of the shepherdSeverin, and he went into the cottage."I have come to pay you a visit, as I want to make a little search," hesaid, and he looked about him. On the table there was a plate, a jug ofcider and a glass half full, which proved that a meal was in progress.Two knives were lying side by side, and the shrewd gendarme winked at hissuperior officer."It smells good," the latter said."One might swear that it was stewed rabbit," Lenient added, much amused."Will you have a glass of brandy?" the peasant woman asked."No, thank you; I only want the skin of the rabbit that you are eating."She pretended not to understand, but she was trembling."What rabbit?"The brigadier had taken a seat, and was calmly wiping his forehead."Come, come, you are not going to try and make us believe that you liveon couch grass. What were you eating there all by yourself for yourdinner?""I? Nothing whatever, I swear to you. A mite of butter on my bread.""You are a novice, my good woman. A mite of butter on your bread.You are mistaken; you ought to have said: a mite of butter on the rabbit.By G--,your butter smells good! It is special butter, extra good butter,butter fit for a wedding; certainly, not household butter!"The gendarme was shaking with laughter, and repeated:"Not household butter certainly."As Brigadier Senateur was a joker, all the gendarmes had grown facetious,and the officer continued:"Where is your butter?""My butter?""Yes, your butter.""In the jar.""Then where is the butter jar?""Here it is."She brought out an old cup, at the bottom of which there was a layer ofrancid salt butter, and the brigadier smelled of it, and said, with ashake of his head:"It is not the same. I want the butter that smells of the rabbit. Come,Lenient, open your eyes; look under the sideboard, my good fellow, and Iwill look under the bed."Having shut the door, he went up to the bed and tried to move it; but itwas fixed to the wall, and had not been moved for more than half acentury, apparently. Then the brigadier stooped, and made his uniformcrack. A button had flown off."Lenient," he said."Yes, brigadier?""Come here, my lad, and look under the bed; I am too tall. I will lookafter the sideboard."He got up and waited while his man executed his orders.Lenient, who was short and stout, took off his kepi, laid himself on hisstomach, and, putting his face on the floor, looked at the black cavityunder the bed, and then, suddenly, he exclaimed:"All right, here we are!""What have you got? The rabbit?""No, the thief.""The thief! Pull him out, pull him out!"The gendarme had put his arms under the bed and laid hold of something,and he was pulling with all his might, and at last a foot, shod in athick boot, appeared, which he was holding in his right hand. Thebrigadier took it, crying:"Pull! Pull!"And Lenient, who was on his knees by that time, was pulling at the otherleg. But it was a hard job, for the prisoner kicked out hard, and archedup his back under the bed."Courage! courage! pull! pull!" Senateur cried, and they pulled himwith all their strength, so that the wooden slat gave way, and he cameout as far as his head; but at last they got that out also, and they sawthe terrified and furious face of Polyte, whose arms remained stretchedout under the bed."Pull away!" the brigadier kept on exclaiming. Then they heard a strangenoise, and as the arms followed the shoulders, and the hands the arms,they saw in the hands the handle of a saucepan, and at the end of thehandle the saucepan itself, which contained stewed rabbit."Good Lord! good Lord!" the brigadier shouted in his delight, whileLenient took charge of the man; the rabbit's skin, an overwhelming proof,was discovered under the mattress, and then the gendarmes returned intriumph to the village with their prisoner and their booty.A week later, as the affair had made much stir, Lecacheur, on going intothe mairie to consult the schoolmaster, was told that the shepherdSeverin had been waiting for him for more than an hour, and he found himsitting on a chair in a corner, with his stick between his legs. When hesaw the mayor, he got up, took off his cap, and said:"Good-morning, Maitre Cacheux"; and then he remained standing, timid andembarrassed."What do you want?" the former said."This is it, monsieur. Is it true that somebody stole one of yourrabbits last week?""Yes, it is quite true, Severin.""Who stole the rabbit?""Polyte Ancas, the laborer.""Right! right! And is it also true that it was found under my bed?""What do you mean, the rabbit?""The rabbit and then Polyte.""Yes, my poor Severin, quite true, but who told you?""Pretty well everybody. I understand! And I suppose you know all aboutmarriages, as you marry people?""What about marriage?""With regard to one's rights.""What rights?""The husband's rights and then the wife's rights.""Of course I do.""Oh! Then just tell me, M'sieu Cacheux, has my wife the right to go tobed with Polyte?""What, to go to bed with Polyte?""Yes, has she any right before the law, and, seeing that she is my wife,to go to bed with Polyte?""Why, of course not, of course not.""If I catch him there again, shall I have the right to thrash him and heralso?""Why--why--why, yes.""Very well, then; I will tell you why I want to know. One night lastweek, as I had my suspicions, I came in suddenly, and they were notbehaving properly. I chucked Polyte out, to go and sleep somewhere else;but that was all, as I did not know what my rights were. This time I didnot see them; I only heard of it from others. That is over, and we willnot say any more about it; but if I catch them again--by G--, if I catchthem again, I will make them lose all taste for such nonsense, MaitreCacheux, as sure as my name is Severin."

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