chaffered and bargained. The peasants examined the cows, went off, came back, always in
doubt for fear of being cheated, never quite daring to decide, looking the seller square in the
eye in the effort to discover the tricks of the man and the defect in the beast.
The women, having placed their great baskets at their feet, had taken out the poultry, which
lay upon the ground, their legs tied together, with terrified eyes and scarlet combs.
They listened to propositions, maintaining their prices in a decided manner with an
impassive face or perhaps deciding to accept the smaller price offered, suddenly calling out
to the customer who was starting to go away:
"All right, I'll let you have them, Mait' Anthime."
Then, little by little, the square became empty, and when the Angelus struck midday those
who lived at a distance poured into the inns.
At Jourdain's the great room was filled with eaters, just as the vast court was filled with
vehicles of every sort--wagons, gigs, chars-a- bancs, tilburies, innumerable vehicles which
have no name, yellow with mud, misshapen, pieced together, raising their shafts to heaven
like two arms, or it may be with their nose on the ground and their rear in the air.
Just opposite to where the diners were at table the huge fireplace, with its bright flame, gave
out a burning heat on the backs of those who sat at the right. Three spits were turning,
loaded with chickens, with pigeons and with joints of mutton, and a delectable odor of roast
meat and of gravy flowing over crisp brown skin arose from the hearth, kindled merriment,
caused mouths to water.
All the aristocracy of the plough were eating there at Mait' Jourdain's, the innkeeper's, a
dealer in horses also and a sharp fellow who had made a great deal of money in his day.
The dishes were passed round, were emptied, as were the jugs of yellow cider. Every one
told of his affairs, of his purchases and his sales. They exchanged news about the crops. The
weather was good for greens, but too wet for grain.
Suddenly the drum began to beat in the courtyard before the house. Every one, except some
of the most indifferent, was on their feet at once and ran to the door, to the windows, their
mouths full and napkins in their hand.
When the public crier had finished his tattoo he called forth in a jerky voice, pausing in the
wrong places:
"Be it known to the inhabitants of Goderville and in general to all persons present at the
market that there has been lost this morning on the Beuzeville road, between nine and ten
o'clock, a black leather pocketbook containing five hundred francs and business papers.
You are requested to return it to the mayor's office at once or to Maitre Fortune Houlbreque,
of Manneville. There will be twenty francs reward."
Then the man went away. They heard once more at a distance the dull beating of the drum
and the faint voice of the crier. Then they all began to talk of this incident, reckoning up the