?" said Olympe. "Well, the son of the old
sexton at Blangy, a splendid fellow, so the people about here tell me,
was drafted at the great conscription. In 1809 young Niseron was still
only an artilleryman, in a corps d'armee stationed in Illyria and
Dalmatia when it received sudden orders to advance through Hungary and
cut off the retreat of the Austrian army in case the Emperor won the
battle of Wagram. Michaud told me all about Dalmatia, for he was there.
Niseron, being so handsome a man, captivated a Montenegrin girl of
Zahara among the mountains, who was not averse to the French garrison.
This lost her the good-will of her compatriots, and life in her own
town became impossible after the departure of the French. Zena Kropoli,
called in derision the Frenchwoman, followed the artillery, and came to
France after the peace. Auguste Niseron asked permission to marry her;
but the poor woman died at Vincennes in January, 1810, after giving
birth to a daughter, our Genevieve. The papers necessary to make the
marriage legal arrived a few days later. Auguste Niseron then wrote to
his father to come and take the child, with a wetnurse he had got from
its own country; and it was lucky he did, for he was killed soon after
by the bursting of a shell at Montereau. Registered by the name of
Genevieve and baptized at Soulanges, the little Dalmatian was taken
under the protection of Mademoiselle Laguerre, who was touched by her
story. It seems as if it were the destiny of the child to be taken care
of by the owners of Les Aigues! Pere Niseron obtained its clothes, and
now and then some help in money from Mademoiselle."

The countess and Olympe were just then standing before a window from
which they could see Michaud approaching the abbe and Blondet, who
were walking up and down the wide, semi-circular gravelled space which
repeated on the park side of the pavilion the exterior half-moon; they
were conversing earnestly.

"Where is she?" said the countess; "you make me anxious to see her."

"She is gone to carry milk to Mademoiselle Gaillard at the gate of
Conches; she will soon be back, for it is more than an hour since she
started."

"Well, I'll go and meet her with those gentlemen," said Madame de
Montcornet, going downstairs.

Just as the countess opened her parasol, Michaud came up and told her
that the general had left her a widow for probably two days.

"Monsieur Michaud," said the countess, eagerly, "don't deceive me, the