Monsieur gabelle had held the impoverished and involved estate on written instructions , to spare the people , to give them what little there was to give - such fuel as the heavy creditors would let them have in the winter , and such produce as could be saved from the same grip in the summer - and no doubt he had put the fact in plea and proof , for his own safety , so that it could not but appear now 加伯爾先生按照他的書面指示處理了他那衰敗困頓的莊園財產。他要加伯爾體恤百姓,能給的都給他們冬天給他們還了高利貸后留下的柴禾,夏天給他們還了高利貸后留下的農產品。加伯爾先生為了自己的安全毫無疑問早已提出過這些事實和證據為自己辯護,現在只好把這一切公諸于世了。
Probably , monsieur gabelle passed a long night up there , with the distant chateau for fire and candle , and the beating at his door , combined with the joy - ringing , for music ; not to mention his having an ill - omened lamp slung across the road before his posting - house gate , which the village showed a lively inclination to displace in his favour 加伯爾先生在屋頂度過了一個漫長的黑夜。他很可能是把遠處的府第當作了蠟燭,把打門聲和快活的鐘聲當作了音樂的。至于搖晃在他那驛站門前街道邊的不祥的路燈就更不用提了,村里人曾大呼小叫要拿他去跟路燈交換地位呢。
The gabelle () was a very unpopular tax on salt in France before 1790. The term gabelle derives from the Italian gabella (a tax), itself from the Arabic qabala.