y, excited
like a canary by the noise, chattered on to Moronval, giving him details
in regard to the illness of D'Argenton's aunt.

At last they started, Jack and his mother seated side by side in the
victoria, and Madou on the box with Augustin. The progress would hardly
be regarded as a royal one, but Madou was satisfied. The drive itself
was charming, the Avenue de l'Imperatrice was filled with people
driving, riding, and walking. Children of all ages enlivened the scene.
Babies, in their long white skirts, gazing about with the sweet
solemnity of infancy, and older children fancifully dressed, with their
tutors or nurses, crowded the pavements. Jack, in an ecstasy of delight,
kissed his mother, and pulled Madou by the sleeve.

"Are you happy, Madou?"

"Yes, sir, very happy," was the answer. They reached the Bois, in places
quite green and fresh already. There were some spots where the tops of
the trees were in leaf, but the foliage was so minute that it looked
like smoke. The holly, whose crisp, stiff leaves had been covered with
snow half the winter, jostled the timid and distrustful lilacs whose
leaf-buds were only beginning to swell The carriage drew up at the
restaurant, and while the breakfast ordered by Madame de Barancy was in
course of preparation, she and the children took a walk to the lake. At
this early hour there were few of those superb equipages to be seen that
appeared later in the day. The lake was lovely, with white swans dotting
it here and there, and now and then a gentle ripple shook its surface,
and miniature waves dashed against the fringe of old willows on one
side.

What a walk! And what a breakfast served at the open windows! The
children attacked it with the vigor of schoolboys. They laughed
incessantly from the beginning to the end of the repast.

When breakfast was over, Ida proposed that they should visit the _Jardin
d'Acclimation_.

"That is a splendid idea," said Jack, "for Madou has never been there,
and won't he be amused!"

They drove through _La Grande Allee_ in the almost deserted garden,
which to the children was full of interest. They were fascinated by the
animals, who, as they passed, looked at them with sleepy or inquisitive
eyes, or smelled with pink nostrils at the fresh bread they had brought
from the restaurant.

Madou, who at first had made a pretence of interest only to gratify
Jack, now became absorbed in what he saw. He did not need to examine the
blue tic