better soldiers than those drawn from a
peasantry whose very lives are at the mercy of their lords."

"I think, du Tillet," the marquis said later on on the same evening,
when the young people had retired, "I have done very well in taking
my brother Auguste's advice as to having an English companion
for Ernest. If things were as they were under the Grand Monarque,
I do not say that it would have been wise to allow a young French
nobleman to get these English ideas into his head, but it is
different now.

"We are on the eve of great changes. What will come of it no one
can say; but there will certainly be changes, and it is a good thing
that my children should get broader ideas than those in which we
were brought up. This lad is quiet and modest, but he ventures to
think for himself. It scarce entered the head of a French nobleman
a generation back that the mass of the people had any feelings or
wishes, much less rights. They were useful in their way, just as
the animals are, but needed no more consideration. They have never
counted for anything.

"In England the people have rights and liberties; they won them
years ago. It would be well for us in the present day had they
done so in France. I fancy the next generation will have to adapt
themselves to changed circumstances, and the ideas that Ernest and
Jules will learn from this English lad will be a great advantage
to them, and will fit them for the new state of things."

It was only during lessons, when their gouvernante was always
present, at meal times, and in the salon in the evening, that
Harry had any communication with the young ladies of the family. If
they met in the grounds they were saluted by the boys with as much
formal courtesy as if they had been the most distant acquaintances,
returning the bows with deep curtsies.

These meetings were a source of great amusement to Harry, who could
scarcely preserve his gravity at these formal and distant greetings.
On one occasion, however, the even course of these meetings was
broken. The boys had just left the tennis-court where they had
been playing, and had laid aside the swords which they carried when
walking or riding.

The tennis-court was at some little distance from the house, and
they were walking across the garden when they heard a scream. At
a short distance was the governess with her two young charges. She
had thrown her arms round them, and stood the picture of terror,
uttering loud screams.