ifficulty in selling this ruin?" continued Louis.

"That depends upon the price you ask, M. the marquis; I know a man who
would purchase the property if he could get it cheap."

"Who is he?"

"M. Fougeroux, who lives on the other side of the river. He came from
Beaucaire, and twelve years ago married a servant-maid of the late
Countess de la Verberie. Perhaps M. the marquis remembers her--a plump,
bright-eyed brunette, named Mihonne."

Louis did not remember Mihonne.

"When can we see this Fougeroux?" he inquired.

"To-day; I will engage a boat to take us over."

"Well, let us go now. I have no time to lose."

An entire generation has passed away since Louis had last crossed the
Rhone in old Pilorel's boat.

The faithful ferryman had been buried many years, and his duties were
now performed by his son, who, possessing great respect for traditional
opinions, was delighted at the honor of rowing the Marquis of Clameran
in his boat, and soon had it ready for Louis and Joseph to take their
seats.

As soon as they were fairly started, Joseph began to warn the marquis
against the wily Fougeroux.

"He is a cunning fox," said the farmer; "I have had a bad opinion of him
ever since his marriage, which was a shameful affair altogether. Mihonne
was over fifty years of age, and he was only twenty-four, when he
married her; so you may know it was money, and not a wife, that he
wanted. She, poor fool, believed that the young scamp really loved her,
and gave herself and her money up to him. Women will be trusting fools
to the end of time! And Fougeroux is not the man to let money lie idle.
He speculated with Mihonne's gold, and is now very rich. But she, poor
thing, does not profit by his wealth; one can easily understand his not
feeling any love for her, when she looks like his grandmother; but he
deprives her of the necessaries of life, and beats her cruelly."

"He would like to plant her six feet under ground," said the ferryman.

"Well, it won't be long before he has the satisfaction of burying her,"
said Joseph; "the poor old woman has been in almost a dying condition
ever since Fougeroux brought a worthless jade to take charge of the
house, and makes his wife wait upon her like a servant."

When they reached the opposite shore, Joseph asked young Pilorel to
await their return.

Joseph knocked at the gate of the well-cultivated farm, and inquired for
the master; the farm-boy said that "M. Fougeroux" was out in t