ng tone.

"But I'll not leave the country," Michu continued, paying no heed to
the abbe's exclamation, "till I am certain you are safe. I see fellows
roaming about here whom I distrust. The last time we hunted in the
forest, that keeper who took my place at Gondreville came to me and
asked if we supposed we were on our own property. 'Ho! my lad,' I said,
'we can't get rid in two weeks of ideas we've had for centuries.'"

"You did wrong, Michu," said the Marquis de Simeuse, smiling with
satisfaction.

"What answer did he make?" asked Monsieur d'Hauteserre.

"He said he would inform the senator of our claims," replied Michu.

"Comte de Gondreville!" repeated the elder Simeuse; "what a masquerade!
But after all, they say 'your Majesty' to Bonaparte!"

"And to the Grand Duc de Berg, 'your Highness!'" said the abbe.

"Who is he?" asked the Marquis de Simeuse.

"Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law," replied old d'Hauteserre.

"Delightful!" remarked Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. "Do they also say
'your Majesty' to the widow of Beauharnais?"

"Yes, mademoiselle," said the abbe.

"We ought to go to Paris and see it all," cried Laurence.

"Alas, mademoiselle," said Michu, "I was there to put Francois at
school, and I swear to you there's no joking with what they call the
Imperial Guard. If the rest of the army are like them, the thing may
last longer than we."

"They say many of the noble families are taking service," said Monsieur
d'Hauteserre.

"According to the present law," added the abbe, "you will be compelled
to serve. The conscription makes no distinction of ranks or names."

"That man is doing us more harm with his court than the Revolution did
with its axe!" cried Laurence.

"The Church prays for him," said the abbe.

These remarks, made rapidly one after another, were so many commentaries
on the wise counsel of the old Marquis de Chargeboeuf; but the young
people had too much faith, too much honor, to dream of resorting to a
compromise. They told themselves, as all vanquished parties in all times
have declared, that the luck of the conquerors would soon be at an end,
that the Emperor had no support but that of the army, that the power _de
facto_ must sooner or later give way to the Divine Right, etc. So, in
spite of the wise counsel given to them, they fell into the pitfall,
which others, like old d'Hauteserre, more prudent and more amenable
to reason, would have been able to avoid. If men were frank the