serve as well as to-day?"

These and such-like arguments were showered upon me, and not a little
aided by many little coquetries of look and gesture.

"One thing is quite certain," said Dubos: "it is now three,--the bureau
closes at four o'clock; and if you know of any one in Havre who will be
your sponsor, the sooner you find him the better."

This speech was uttered with so much gravity that it completely
mystified me; nor did the next remark serve greatly to elucidate
matters, as his wife said she hoped "I 'd have a pleasant voyage." After
enjoying my astonished and puzzled look for a second or two, they both
burst into a roar of laughter.

"Don't you see, Bernard," said the man, "that you have no other
acquaintance in the city than ourselves; and if we have a fancy for your
company, and do not care to part with it, the option is with us?"

"But if you really do feel an interest for me, you would befriend me,"
said I. "Is not that so?"

"And so I 'm ready to do," said he, rising. "Say the word, and I 'll go
with you this moment to the commissary."

I arose too. Already the syllables were on my lips, when the sudden
thought flashed across me: Whither am I hurrying, and for what? Was I
returning to home and family and country? Was I going back to kind and
loving friends, whose hearts were yearning for my coming? I paused, and
at the same instant the laughing eyes of the young Frenchwoman seemed to
read my embarrassment.

"Well," cried Dubos, "how is it to be?"

"Sit down, Pierre, and take your coffee," said she, smiling. "Citizen
Bernard has not the slightest intention of leaving us. He knows,
besides, that you will be just as ready to serve him any other day, and
not the less so when you will have been better acquainted."

"She is right," said he, pressing me down into my seat again. "Let's
have a _chasse_ in ease, and quick."

I did not stop to reason the question. If I had, perhaps I should only
have seen stronger cause to concur with my kind hosts. The world was a
wide and trackless ocean before me, and even the humblest haven was a
welcome harbor to me for a day or two.

I stayed accordingly, and went to the theatre with them. The following
day was Sunday, and we went over to Honneur, and dined at the "Trois
Pigeons;" and Pierre showed me the spot where he first saw his pretty
wife, and said,--

"Who knows but some day or other I may be telling of the day and the
hour and the way I became acquainte