"Here,Daddy Hochedur,go and have a look at the outskirts of the wood.In the first thicket you will find a pair of pigeons who must be a hundred and thirty years old between them!"
He went in the direction indicated,entered the thicket,and there he heard words which made him suspect a flagrantl breach of morality.Advancing,therefore,on his hands and knees as if to surprise a poacher,he had arrested the couple whom he found there.
The mayor looked at the culprits in astonishment,for the man was certainly sixty,and the woman fifty-five at least,and he began to question them,beginning with the man,who replied in such a weak voice that he could scarcely be heard.