d take away the little ones.

'Let me ask one question more, reverend Mother,' said Berenger.
'Ah! children, did you ever see her whom you call Isaac Gardon's
daughter-in-law?

'No, sir,' said the children; 'but mother did, and she promised one day
to take us to see the baby, for it was so pretty--so white, that she had
never seen the like.

'So white!' repeated Berenger to himself; and the Prioress, struck,
perhaps, by the almost flaxen locks that sparsely waved on his temples,
and the hue of the ungloved hand that rested on the edge of the
_grille_, said, smiling, 'You come of a fair family, Monsieur.

'The White Ribaumonts,' said Berenger, 'and, moreover, my mother was
called the Swan of England; my little sisters have skins like snow.
Ah! Madame, though I have failed, I go away far happier than if I had
succeeded.

'And reveal the true faith,' began the nun; but Philip in the meantime
was nudging his brother, and whispering in English, 'No Popish
prayers, I say! Stay, give these poor little prisoners one feast of the
sweetmeats we brought.

Of this last hint Berenger was glad, and the Prioress readily consented
to a distribution of the dainties among the orphans. He wished to leave
a more lasting token of his gratitude to the little maiden whose father
had perhaps saved Eustacie's life, and recollecting that he had about
him a great gold coin, bearing the heads of Philip and Mary, he begged
leave to offer it to Agathe, and found that it was received by good Mere
Monique almost in the light of a relic, as bearing the head of so pious
a queen.

Then, to complete Philip's disgust he said, 'I took with me my aunt's
blessing when I set out; let me take yours with me also, reverend
Mother.

When they were in the street again, Philip railed at him as though he
had subjected himself to a spell.

'She is almost a saint,' answered Berenger.

'And have we not saints enough of our own, without running after Popish
ones behind grates? Brother, if ever the good old days come back of
invading France, I'll march straight hither, and deliver the poor little
wretches so scandalously mewed up here, and true Protestants all the
time!

'Hush! People are noticing the sound of your English.

'Let them! I never thanked Heaven properly before that I have not a drop
of French---' Here Berenger almost shook him by the shoulder, as
men turned at his broad tones and foreign words, and he walked on in
silence, while Berenger at