her in all this was that Roland had saved Edouard's life.

"Did you thank him for it?" she asked the boy. "Thank whom?"

"Your brother."

"Why should I thank him?" retorted Edouard. "I should have done the same
thing."

"Ah, madame, what can you expect!" said Sir John; "you are a gazelle who
has unwittingly given birth to a race of lions."

Amelie had also paid the closest attention to the account, especially
when the hunters spoke of their proximity to the Chartreuse. From that
time on she listened with anxious eyes, and seemed scarcely to breathe,
until they told of leaving the woods after the killing.

After dinner, word was brought that Jacques had returned with two
peasants from Montagnac. They wanted exact directions as to where the
hunters had left the animal. Roland rose, intending to go to them, but
Madame de Montrevel, who could never see enough of her son, turned
to the messenger and said: "Bring these worthy men in here. It is not
necessary to disturb M. Roland for that."

Five minutes later the two peasants entered, twirling their hats in
their hands.

"My sons," said Roland, "I want you to fetch the boar we killed in the
forest of Seillon."

"That can be done," said one of the peasants, consulting his companion
with a look.

"Yes, it can be done," answered the other.

"Don't be alarmed," said Roland. "You shall lose nothing by your
trouble."

"Oh! we're not," interrupted one of the peasants. "We know you, Monsieur
de Montrevel."

"Yes," answered the other, "we know that, like your father, you're
not in the habit of making people work for nothing. Oh! if all the
aristocrats had been like you, Monsieur Louis, there wouldn't have been
any revolution."

"Of course not," said the other, who seemed to have come solely to echo
affirmatively what his companion said.

"It remains to be seen now where the animal is," said the first peasant.

"Yes," repeated the second, "remains to be seen where it is."

"Oh! it won't be hard to find."

"So much the better," interjected the peasant.

"Do you know the pavilion in the forest?"

"Which one?"

"Yes, which one?"

"The one that belongs to the Chartreuse of Seillon."

The peasants looked at each other.

"Well, you'll find it some twenty feet distant from the front on the way
to Genoud."

The peasants looked at each other once more.

"Hum!" grunted the first one.

"Hum!" repeated the other, faithful echo of his companion.

"Well, what d