u wert
when yet plump!" said Frederic, pathetically. "And certainly, if I live,
Fox will starve; if I am slain, Fox will be eaten. Yet, poor Fox, dear
Fox, who lay on my breast when I was frostbitten. No; I have not the
heart to order him to the spit for you. Urge it not."

"I will save thee that pang," cried De Breze. "We are close by thy
rooms. Excuse me for a moment: I will run in and instruct thy bonne."

So saying, he sprang forward with an elasticity of step which no one
could have anticipated from his previous languor. Frederic would have
followed, but Savarin clung to him, whimpering: "Stay; I shall fall like
an empty sack, without the support of thine arm, young hero. Pooh! of
course De Breze is only joking--a pleasant joke. Hist! a secret: he
has moneys, and means to give us once more a dinner at his own cost,
pretending that we dine on thy dog. He was planning this when thou
camest up. Let him have his joke, and we shall have a festin de
Balthazar."

"Hein!" said Frederic, doubtfully; "thou art sure he has no designs upon
Fox?"

"Certainly not, except in regaling us. Donkey is not bad, but it is 14
francs a pound. A pullet is excellent, but it is 30 francs. Trust to
De Breze; we shall have donkey and pullet, and Fox shall feast upon the
remains."

Before Frederic could reply, the two men were jostled and swept on by a
sudden rush of a noisy crowd in their rear. They could but distinguish
the words--Glorious news--victory--Faidherbe--Chanzy. But these words
were sufficient to induce them to join willingly in the rush. They
forgot their hunger; they forget Fox. As they were hurried on, they
learned that there was a report of a complete defeat of the Prussians
by Faidherbe near Amiens, of a still more decided one on the Loire by
Chanzy. These generals, with armies flushed with triumph, were pressing
on towards Paris to accelerate the destruction of the hated Germans. How
the report arose no one exactly knew.

All believed it, and were making their way to the Hotel de Ville to hear
it formally confirmed.

Alas! before, they got there they were met by another crowd returning,
dejected but angry. No such news had reached the Government. Chanzy and
Faidherbe were no doubt fighting bravely,--with every probability of
success; but--

The Parisian imagination required no more. "We should always be
defeating the enemy," said Savarin, "if there were not always a but;"
and his audience, who, had he so expressed