my garden at noon. He had grown calm again under
the spell of the Burgundy, but Suzette, I feared, would be ill.

"Come, be merciful," I pleaded.

"He is the fiance of my good Suzette; besides, you must not forget that
you were all my guests."

The general shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "They were lucky to have
gotten off with a month!" he snapped. "You saw that those little devils
were handcuffed?" he asked of his aide.

"Yes, my general, the gendarme attended to them."

"You were my guests," I insisted. "Hold me responsible if you wish."

"Hold _you_ responsible!" he exclaimed. "But you are a foreigner--it
would be a little awkward."

"It is my good Suzette," I continued, "that I am thinking of."

He leaned back in his chair, and for a moment again ran his hands
thoughtfully over the bristles of his scarred head. He had a daughter of
his own.

"The coffee," I said gently to my unhappy Suzette as she passed.

"_Oui! Oui_, monsieur," she sighed, then suddenly mustering up her
courage, she gasped:

"_Oh, mon general!_ Is it true, then, that Gaston must go to jail? _Ah!
Mon Dieu!_"

"_Eh bien_, my girl! It will not kill him, _Sapristi!_ He will be a
better soldier for it."

"Be merciful," I pleaded.

"_Eh bien! Eh bien!_" he retorted. "_Eh bien!_" And cleared his throat.

"Forgive them," I insisted. "They overslept. I don't want Suzette to
marry a jail-bird."

Again he scratched his head and frowned. Suzette was in tears.

"Um! Difficult!" he grumbled. "Order for arrest once given--" Then he
shot a glance at me. I caught a twinkle in his eye.

"_Eh bien!_" he roared. "There--I forgive them! Ah, those _sacre_
musicians!"

Suzette stood there trembling, unable even to thank him, the colour
coming and going in her peasant cheeks.

"Are they free, general?" I asked.

"Yes," he retorted, "both of them."

"Bravo!" I exclaimed.

"Understand that I have done it for the little girl--and _you_. Is that
plain?"

"Perfectly," I replied. "As plain as Su-Tum-Tum!" I added under my
breath as I filled his empty glass in gratefulness to the brim.

"Halt!" shouted the general as the happiest of Suzettes turned toward
her kitchen.

"Eh--um!" he mumbled awkwardly in a voice that had suddenly grown thick.
Then he sprang to his feet and raised his glass.

"A health to the bride!" he cried.

[Illustration: The general]

* * * * *

[Illustration: a formal