n the exercise of trills and
sustained notes. Instead of the pointed beard of his brother, he was
shaven, sunburnt; and his sailor's cap, a blue wool knitted cap, shaded
a true Breton face, tanned by the sea, cut in granite, with small eyes,
and a keen glance sharpened by the minute work of a fitter and adjuster.

"And how are all at home?" asked Labassindre. "Clarisse, Zenaide, every
one?"

"Every one is quite well, thank Heaven. Ah, ah! this is our new
apprentice. He looks like a nice little chap; only he doesn't look over
strong."

"Strong as a horse, my dear fellow, and warranted by the Paris doctors."

"So much the better, then, for ours is a roughish trade. And now, if you
are ready, let us go and see the manager."

They followed a long alley of fine trees that soon changed into a
street, such as is found in small towns, bordered by white houses, clean
and all alike. Here lived a certain number of the factory workmen, the
foremen, and first hands. The others were located on the opposite bank,
at Montagne or at Basse Indre.

At this hour all was silent, life and movement being concentrated within
the iron works; and had it not been for the linen drying at the windows,
the flower-pots ranged near the panes, the occasional cry of a child, or
the rhythmical rocking of a cradle heard through some half-opened door,
the place might have been deemed uninhabited.

"Oh! the flag's down," said the singer, as they reached the gate leading
to the workshops. "What frights that confounded flag has given me before
now."

And he explained to his "old Jack," that five minutes after the arrival
of the workmen for the opening hour, the flag over the gate was lowered,
and thus it was announced that the doors were closed. So much the worse
for those who were late; they were marked down as absent, and at the
third offense dismissed.

While he was giving these explanations, his brother conferred with the
gate-keeper, and they were admitted within the doors of the
establishment. The din was frightful; whistlings, groanings, grindings,
varying but never diminishing, were re-echoed from many vast
triangular-roofed sheds, standing at intervals on a sloping ground
intersected by numerous railways.

An iron city!

Their footsteps rang upon plates of metal incrusted in the earth. They
picked their way amid heaps of bar iron, pig iron, ingots of copper;
between rows of worn-out guns brought hither to be melted down, rusty
outside,