CHAPTER V.
THE COUNT'S TAX
AND in this happy manner the spring and summer wore away and the autumncame. Brother Stephen felt very cheerful, for the beautiful book grewmore beautiful week by week; and he was very proud and happy, because heknew it was the loveliest thing he had ever made.
Indeed, he himself was so cheerful, that as the autumn days, one afteranother, melted away, it was some little time before he noticed thatGabriel was losing his merriness, and that he had begun to look sad anddistressed. And finally, one morning, he came looking so very unhappy,that Brother Stephen asked, with much concern:
"Why, lad, whither have all thy gay spirits taken flight? Art thou ill?"
"Nay, sir," answered Gabriel, sadly; "but oh, Brother Stephen, we are inso much trouble at home!"
At this the monk at once began to question him, and learned thatGabriel's family were indeed in great misfortune.
And this is how it came about: in those days the peasant folk had a veryhard time indeed. All of the land through the country was owned by thegreat nobles; and the poor peasants, who lived on the little farms intowhich the land was divided, had few rights. They could not even move toanother place if they so wished, but were obliged to spend all theirlives under the control of whatever nobleman happened to own the estateon which they were born.
They lived in little thatched cottages, and cultivated their bits ofland; and as rent for this, each peasant was obliged to help support thegreat lord who owned everything, and who always lived in a strongcastle, with armed men under his command.
The peasants had to raise wheat and vegetables and sheep and cows, sothat the people of the castles might eat nice, white bread, and nutcookies and roast meat; though the poor peasants themselves had to becontent, day after day, with little more than hard, black bread, andperhaps a single bowl of cabbage or potato soup, from which the wholefamily would dip with their wooden spoons.
Then, too, the peasants oftentimes had to pay taxes when their noblelord wished to raise money, and even to follow him to war if he socommanded, though this did not often happen.
And now we come to the reason for Gabriel's troubles. It seems that theCount Pierre de Bouchage, to whose estate Gabriel's family belonged,had got into a quarrel with a certain baron who lived near the town ofEvreux, and Count Pierre was determined to take his followers and attackthe baron's castle; for these private wars were very common in thosedays.
But Count Pierre needed money to carry on his little war, and so hadlaid a very heavy tax on the peasants of his estate; and Gabriel'sfather had been unable to raise the sum of money demanded. For besidesGabriel, there were several little brothers and sisters in the family,Jean and Margot and little Guillaume, who must be clothed and fed; andthough the father was honest and hard-working, yet the land of theirlittle farm was poor, and it was all the family could do to findthemselves enough on which to live.
When peasant Viaud had begged Count Pierre to release him from the tax,the count, who was hard and unsympathetic, had become angry, and givenorders that the greater part of their little farm should be taken fromthem, and he had seized also their little flock of sheep. This was agrievous loss, for out of the wool that grew on the sheeps' backs,Gabriel's mother every winter made the warm, homespun clothes for allthe family.
Indeed, Count Pierre had no real right to do all this; but in thosetimes, when a noble lord chose to be cruel and unjust, the poorpeasants had no way to help matters.
And this was not all of Gabriel's woes; for only a few days after he hadtold these things to Brother Stephen, when he went home at night, hefound his mother crying bitterly, and learned that Count Pierre, who washaving some trouble in raising his money, and so had become moremerciless than ever, had that day imprisoned his father at the castle,and refused to release him unless some of the tax were paid.
This was the hardest blow of all; and though the other children were tooyoung to understand all that had befallen them, poor Gabriel and hismother were so distressed that neither slept that night; and the nextmorning when the little boy arose, tired out instead of rested by thelong night, he had scarcely the heart to go away to the Abbey, and leavethings so miserable at home. But his mother thought it best for him tokeep on with his work with Brother Stephen, because of the little sum heearned; and then, too, he felt that he must do his part to help untilKing Louis's book was finished. After that, he did not know what hecould do! He did not know how he could best try to take his father'splace and help the family; for, after all, he knew he was only a littleboy, and so things seemed very hopeless!
Indeed the grief and poverty that had come upon them at home madeGabriel so sad that Brother Stephen was quite heart-broken, too, for hedeeply loved the lad. As he worked, he kept trying all the while tothink of some way to help them; but as the monk had passed all his lifewithin the walls of the Abbey, he knew but little of the ways of theoutside world; and he had no money of his own, or he would gladly havepaid the tax himself.