After reading · Part II · Chapter 23
Part II · Chapter 23The Château Burns
Reading boundary
Start: There was a change on the village where the fountain fell
Stop after: able to calculate successfully.
Summary
At noon the road-mender, still working at the road, shelters from hail with a travel-worn stranger who says he is going “there.” That night, four figures approach the château from four directions, and the building burns. Villagers gather at the fountain and refuse to help Gabelle, the village’s chief functionary, and the household servants.
A rider from the château asks first for Gabelle and then for soldiers, but an officer declines to act. The villagers light candles at Gaspard’s former hanging place. Gabelle retreats to his roof as the crowd surrounds his house and appears ready to hang him from the lamp outside; they leave him alive, but fires spread among other château properties across France.
Who’s who
- The road-mender — Road worker who meets a mysterious traveler.
- Gabelle — Tax official and representative of the old estate.
- The mender of roads’ stranger — One of the travelers converging on the château.
- The villagers — Witnesses who withhold aid from their former rulers.