so fierce that the
younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as the
Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every sign
of the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name, bidding him
keep silence before the young lady entrusted to his care. The stranger
could not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the old man,
desiring him to observe that he was living at a country-house at
Chevreuse; and, after pointing this out to him, he hurried away.

"You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear," said
the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. "Do you not know how to
hold your horse in?--And there you leave me to compromise my dignity in
order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped, one of your
looks, or one of your pretty speeches--one of those you can make so
prettily when you are not pert--would have set everything right, even if
you had broken his arm."

"But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
horseman as you were last year.--But instead of talking nonsense----"

"Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?"

"Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
limping, uncle, only look!"

"No, he is running; I rated him soundly."

"Oh, yes, uncle; I know you there!"

"Stop," said the Count, pulling Emilie's horse by the bridle, "I do not
see the necessity of making advances to some shopkeeper who is only
too lucky to have been thrown down by a charming young lady, or the
commander of La Belle-Poule."

"Why do you think he is anything so common, my dear uncle? He seems to
me to have very fine manners."

"Every one has manners nowadays, my dear."

"No, uncle, not every one has the air and style which come of the habit
of frequenting drawing-rooms, and I am ready to lay a bet with you that
the young man is of noble birth."

"You had not long to study him."

"No, but it is not the first time I have seen him."

"Nor is it the first time you have looked for him," replied the admiral
with a laugh.

Emilie colored. Her uncle amused himself for some time with her
embarrassment; then he said: "Emilie, you know that I love you as my own
child, precisely because you are the only member of the family who has
the legitimate pride of high birth. Devil take it, child, who could have
believed that so