e done for mother--for us, I
mean. You have been a friend in need."

This sudden change of manner was rather bewildering, and I made no
doubt that the victim of it was dumb and stupid enough to arouse any
woman's anger. But Lucille was always too quick for me, and by the
time I began to understand her humour it changed and left me far
behind.

"Where have you been all these months?" she asked, almost as if the
matter interested her. "And why have you not written?"

"I have been chasing a chimera, Mademoiselle."

"Which you will never catch."

"Which I shall never abandon," answered I, quite failing to emulate
her lightness of tone.

When we went indoors and found Madame with her lace-work in the
morning-room upstairs, with the windows overlooking the sea--the room,
by the way, where I now sit and write--Lucille's manner as abruptly
changed again.

"Mother," she said, "here is Monsieur Howard, our benefactor."

"I am glad, mon ami, that you have come," were Madame's words of
welcome. And after the manner of good housewives she then inquired
when and where I had last eaten.

I had brought a number of the illustrated journals of the day, and
with the aid of these convinced even Lucille that the flight from
Paris had not been an unnecessary precaution. Upon the heels of the
horror of the long siege had followed the greater disorder of the
Commune, when brave men were shot down by the insurgent National
Guard, and all Paris was at the mercy of the rabble. Indeed, this
Reign of Terror must ever remain a blot on the civilisation of the
century and the history of the French people.

It was apparent to me that while Madame de Clericy, who was of a more
philosophic nature, accepted exile and dependence on myself without
great reluctance, Lucille chafed under the knowledge that they were
for the moment beholden to me. I had, as a matter of fact, come at
Madame's request, who could make but little of the English newspapers,
and thirsted for tidings from Paris. The respectable Paris newspapers
had one after the other been seized and stopped by the Commune, while
the postal service had itself collapsed.

The Vicomtesse also wished for details of her own affairs, and had
written to me respecting a sale of some property in order to raise
ready money and pay off her debt towards myself. It was with a view of
discussing these questions that I had journeyed down to Hopton. So at
least I persuaded myself to believe, and knew