saddle, and so on. The few minutes thus employed were passed in close
whispering by the others, at the end of which the Count said aloud,--

"Well, who is to look after the beasts? Is Louis not here?"

"He was at Dinant, but would return presently."

"Be it so," said the Count; "we 'll stable them ourselves. Meanwhile,
Lisette, prepare something for our supper.--Lisette has not her equal
for an omelet," said he to me, "and when the Meuse yields us fresh
trout, you 'll acknowledge that her skill will not discredit them."

The woman's face, as he spoke these words in an easy, jocular tone,
was actually ghastly. It seemed as if she were contending against some
sickening sensation that was over-powering her, for her eyes lost all
expression, and her ruddy lips grew livid. The only answer was a brief
nod of her head as she turned away and re-entered the house. I watched
the Count narrowly as we busied ourselves about our horses, but nothing
could be possibly more calm, and to all seeming unconcerned, than his
bearing and manner. The few words he spoke were in reference to objects
around us, and uttered with careless ease.

When we entered the cottage we found Lisette had already spread a cloth,
and was making preparations for our supper; and Ysaffich, with the
readiness of an old campaigner, proceeded to aid her in these details.
At last she left the room, and, looking after her for a second or two in
silence, he said compassionately,--

"Poor creature! she takes this to heart far more heavily than I
could have thought;" and then, seeing that the words were not quite
intelligible to me, he added, "Yes, mon cher Gregoire, I am a bachelor
once more; Madame the Countess has left me! Weary of a life of poverty
to which she had been so long unaccustomed, she has returned to the
world again--to the stage, perhaps--who knows?" added he, with a
careless indifference, and as though dismissing the theme from his
thoughts forever.

I had never liked him, but at no time of our intercourse did he appear
so thoroughly odious to me as when he uttered these words.

There is some strange fatality in the way our characters are frequently
impressed by circumstances and intimacies which seem the veriest
accidents. We linger in some baneful climate till it has made its fatal
inroad on our health; and so we as often dally amidst associations fully
as dangerous and deadly. In this way did I continue to live on with
Ysaffich, daily resolv