swung-to, when the carriage issued upon the high road, and the plain
lay, though dim in the starlight, yet free and lovely to the eye, while
the line of grey sea was visible to the left, the old man's spirits
seemed to rise. It was seldom that he quitted the town; and when he
did, and could throw off his cares, he was surprised to find how
reviving were the influences of the country.

"It is a lovely night, really," said he. "If you ever go to Paris, my
dear, you will miss this starlight. There the stars seem to have shrunk
away from you, a myriad of miles. Let those flowers be, child. Why may
not I have the pleasure of smelling them? There! Let them lie. Who
would believe that that sea, which looks so quiet now, will be rolling
and dashing upon the beach in November, as if it meant to swallow up the
plain? How it seems to sleep in the starlight! You found little Sully
grown, my dear, I dare say."

"Oh, yes! but more glad to see us than ever. He had to show me how he
could read, and how he had been allowed to put a new leg to the master's
desk at the school. Sully will make a good carpenter, I think. He is
going to make a box for me; and he declares the ants shall never get
through it, at the hinge, or lid, or anywhere. How the people are
singing all about! I love to hear them. Prince drives so fast, that we
shall be home too soon. I shall be quite sorry to be in the streets
again."

It seemed as if Prince had heard her, for, in another moment, he was
certainly checking his horses, and their speed gradually relaxed.

"He must have driven us fast, indeed," said Monsieur Revel. "Look at
the lights of the town--how near they are! Are those the lights of the
town?"

"I should have looked for them more to the left." Euphrosyne replied.
"Let us ask Pierre. We cannot possibly have lost our way."

Pierre rode up to the carriage window, at the moment that Prince came to
a full stop.

"We do not know," said Louis, the black footman, who was beside
Prince--"We do not know what those lights can mean. They seem to be
moving, and towards this way."

"I think it is a body of people," said Pierre. "I fear so, sir."

"We had better go back," said Euphrosyne. "Let us go back to Le
Bosquet."

"Forward! Forward!" cried Monsieur Revel, like one frantic. "Why do
you stand still, you rascal? I will drive myself if you do not push on.
Drive on--drive like the devil--like what you all are," he added, in a