The Chouans

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In 1827 an old man accompanied by his wife was buying cattle in the market-place of Fougeres.  Few persons remembered that he had killed a hundred or more men, and that his former name was Marche-a-Terre.  A person to whom we owe important information about all the personages of this drama saw him there, leading a cow, and was struck by his simple, ingenuous air, which led her to remark, “That must be a worthy man.”

As for Cibot, otherwise called Pille-Miche, we already know his end.  It is likely that Marche-a-Terre made some attempt to save his comrade from the scaffold; possibly he was in the square at Alencon on the occasion of the frightful tumult which was one of the events of the famous trial of Rifoel, Briond, and la Chanterie.