house, where a most welcome sight, a huge fire,
blazed cheerfully on the hearth, and Martin himself held open the door
for her. The other occupants of the kitchen were the sleeping child
in its wooden cradle, some cocks and hens upon the rafters, and a big
sheep-dog before the fire.

The warmth, and the chicken that Lucette had killed and dressed, brought
the colour back to the exhausted wanderer's cheek, and enabled her again
to hold council for her safety. It was plain, as Martin had found in
conversation with the men-at-arms, that precautions had been taken
against her escaping in any of the directions where she might hope to
have reached friends. Alone she could not go, and any escort sufficient
to protect her would assuredly be stopped at the first town;
besides which, collecting it in secret was impossible under present
circumstances, and it would be sure to be at once overtaken and
demolished by the Chevalier Narcisse's well-armed followers. Martin,
therefore, saw no alternative but for her to lurk about in such
hiding-places as her faithful vassals could afford her, until the search
should blow over, and the vigilance of her uncle and cousin relax. Hope,
the high-spirited hope of early youth, looked beyond to indefinite but
infinite possibility. Anything was better than the shame and horror
of yielding, and Eustacie trusted herself with all her heart for the
present, fancying, she knew not what, the future.

Indeed, the Vendean fidelity has often been tested, and she made full
proof of it among the lanes, copses, and homesteads of her own broad
lands. The whole country was a network of deep lanes, sunk between
impenetrable hedgerows, inclosing small fields, orchards, and thickets,
and gently undulating in low hills and shallow valleys, interspersed
with tall wasp-waisted windmills airily waving their arms on the top
of lofty masts. It was partitioned into small farms, inhabited by a
simple-hearted peasantry, religious and diligent, with a fair amount of
rural wealth and comfort. Their love for their lords was loyally warm,
and Eustacie monopolized it, from their detestation of her uncle's
exactions; they would risk any of the savage punishments with which they
were threatened for concealing her; and as one by one it was needful to
take them into the secret, so as to disarm suspicion, and she was passed
from one farm to another, each proved his faithful attachment, and
though himself repaid by her thankful smil