But from what I
have seen at Nantes, I think that it is generally the women who
look after the shops and mind the businesses. However, though she
speaks sharply, I should say that she is a kind-hearted woman.
However, we may be very thankful that we have obtained a shelter
where we can live, safely and quietly, until we have fixed on our
plans for the future."

But although Monsieur Tourrier was, in all matters connected with
the business, but as a child in the hands of his wife, he was far
better acquainted with what was passing around them; and when Leigh
mentioned to him that he intended to ride out to Versailles, he at
once warned him against doing so.

"My dear monsieur," he said, "I know nothing of the state of things
at Arthenay, and for aught I know people may go out riding for
pleasure there; but it would be little short of madness to attempt
such a thing here. At present things have got to such a state that
for any man to seem richer than another is, in itself, a crime.
Here all must be on an equality. Were you to ride out, every man
you pass would look askance at you. At the first village through
which you rode you would be arrested, and to be arrested at present
is to be condemned. There are no questions asked, the prisoners are
brought in in bunches, and are condemned wholesale. I say nothing
against the condemnation of the aristocrats; but when perhaps two
or three aristocrats are brought up with half a dozen journalists,
and a dozen others who may have been arrested merely out of spite,
and are all condemned in five minutes, it is clear that the only
way to live is to avoid being arrested, and the only way to avoid
being arrested is to avoid attracting attention.

"If you were really going on a matter of business, it would be
different, but to ride to Versailles merely to see the place would
be regarded as ample proof that you were an aristocrat; and no one
would regard your papers as anything but a proof that these had
been obtained by fraud, and that you were either an aristocrat, or
a spy of Pitt's, or a Girondist, and certainly an enemy of the
Convention. Therefore, monsieur, if you wish to go anywhere, walk,
or go out in a market cart, for to ride might be fatal."

"I will take your advice," Leigh said. "I did not think that things
were so bad as that."

"They could not be worse, monsieur; it would be impossible. But we
who are quiet men think that it cannot go on much longer; even the
sans-