This was the case at
Echanbroignes, where the agent or intendant of the proprietor was mayor.
He expected the visit which was now paid to him, and having twenty times
expressed his delight at the honour which was done him, he got his hat
and accompanied his visitors to the door of the church, where with his
own hands he commenced a violent assault on the bell-rope, which hung
down in the middle of the porch.
He was ringing the tocsin, which was to call together the people of the
village. They also very generally knew who was coming among them on that
day, and the purpose for which they were corning; and at the first sound
of the bell, all such as intended to shew themselves, came crowding on
to the little space before the church; it was but few who remained at
home, and they were mostly those to whom home at the present moment was
peculiarly sweet; one or two swains newly married, or just about to be
married; one or two fathers, who could hardly bring themselves in these
dangerous times to leave their little prattling children, and one or two
who were averse to lose the profits of their trade.
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