breur!"

Joyselle, a great purple flower in his coat, came swinging down the
street, bowing right and left, his grey felt hat in his gloved hand. He
looked amazingly young and amazingly handsome, and there was no
mistaking the fact that, great man though he undoubtedly was, he was
hugely enjoying the homage of his townspeople.

When he reached the Pharmacie Normale he paused, and shaking hands
politely with Madame Perret, he met M. Perret with open arms, and the
little apothecary, bounding at him, was caught and kissed on either
cheek.

"_Ce cher_ Anatole!" Brigit heard him exclaim, "and how art thou, old
one?"

Perret, greatly delighted, skipped about in rapture, inquiring in a high
piping voice for Felicite and the boy, and asking many questions for
which he waited for no answer.

Then there was a lady from the shop, _Au Bonheur des chers Petits_, to
be greeted very cordially, and the old domino-player, who, Brigit
learned, was a cousin.

There was something very charming in the simplicity of Joyselle's
pleasure in seeing his boyhood's friends, and something almost ludicrous
in his perfectly obvious joy in their homage.

Looking down at him in his oft-interrupted progress, Brigit told herself
that things must turn out all right. "He is so good-natured and generous
and strong," she reflected, with glad shifting of all responsibility,
"he will surely find some way out."

When at last she heard his light, regular footfall coming down the
passage she rose and went to meet him.

"So the Conquering Hero has come," she teased. "I have been watching
your advance down the street. Such a strut!"

"Did I strut? I daresay. They are my own people and I love their
affection. Also, as you say, it pleases my vanity. _Helas_, my dear, I
am very vain."

She put on her hat and took up her gloves.

"I thought Theo was coming for me, Glorieux."

His face changed. "No, my dear love. It is _my_ town, this. Here I was
born, here I lived as a child. I must show it to you."

Taking her hand he laid it on his arm with a gentle little pat and led
her proudly downstairs.

CHAPTER FOUR

Opposite No. 6 Rue Victor Hugo is a long black wall, and in the middle
of this wall an old-fashioned gas lantern was glowing red when Joyselle
and Brigit arrived.

The moon had risen, and mingling with the red of the gas made that part
of the narrow street almost as light as if it had been high noon.

"There is the house, ma Brigitt