director of the jury.

CHAPTER XIV. THE ARRESTS

The four young men and Laurence were so hungry and the dinner so
acceptable that they would not delay it by changing their dress. They
entered the salon, she in her riding-habit, they in their white leather
breeches, high-top boots and green-cloth jackets, where they found
Monsieur d'Hauteserre and his wife, not a little uneasy at their long
absence. The goodman had noticed their goings and comings, and, above
all, their evident distrust of him, for Laurence had been unable to get
rid of him as she had of her servants. Once when his own sons evidently
avoided making any reply to his questions, he went to his wife and said,
"I am afraid that Laurence may still get us into trouble!"

"What sort of game did you hunt to-day?" said Madame d'Hauteserre to
Laurence.

"Ah!" replied the young girl, laughing, "you'll hear some day what a
strange hunt your sons have joined in to-day."

Though said in jest the words made the old lady tremble. Catherine
entered to announce dinner. Laurence took Monsieur d'Hauteserre's arm,
smiling for a moment at the necessity she thus forced upon her cousins
to offer an arm to Madame d'Hauteserre, who, according to agreement, was
now to be the arbiter of their fate.

The Marquis de Simeuse took in Madame d'Hauteserre. The situation was so
momentous that after the Benedicite was said Laurence and the young
men trembled from the violent palpitation of their hearts. Madame
d'Hauteserre, who carved, was struck by the anxiety on the faces of
the Simeuse brothers and the great alteration that was noticeable in
Laurence's lamb-like features.

"Something extraordinary is going on, I am sure of it!" she exclaimed,
looking at all of them.

"To whom are you speaking?" asked Laurence.

"To all of you," said the old lady.

"As for me, mother," said Robert, "I am frightfully hungry, and that is
not extraordinary."

Madame d'Hauteserre, still troubled, offered the Marquis de Simeuse a
plate intended for his brother.

"I am like your mother," she said. "I don't know you apart even by your
cravats. I thought I was helping your brother."

"You have helped me better than you thought for," said the youngest,
turning pale; "you have made him Comte de Cinq-Cygne."

"What! do you mean to tell me the countess has made her choice?" cried
Madame d'Hauteserre.

"No," said Laurence; "we left the decision to fate and you are its
instrument."

She tol