eturns--"

She paused and her eyes filled, and she quoted from some book she had
lately been reading:

"Man is based on hope; he has, properly, no other possession but hope;
this habitation of his is named the place of hope."

Her eyes, as she said this, grew dark with melancholy, but there was
still an undying courage shining in them. Poor, poor Francezka!

CHAPTER XXVI

COME AND REJOICE

We went on to Brussels; but though my body was in Brussels, my soul
was still at the chateau of Capello. I had not the slightest doubt in
my own mind that Gaston Cheverny was dead, and the spectacle of this
poor Francezka, with her passionate faithfulness, unable to part with
that lingering ghost of hope, was enough to touch any heart. It deeply
touched Count Saxe's. He was the last man on earth to forget that
through devotion to him Gaston Cheverny had been lost, and I believe
he would have given his right arm could Gaston Cheverny have been
found.

By the time we got to Brussels, the women in Paris had found out where
Count Saxe was, and a bushel of love letters awaited him--which
spoiled that place for us. We went as far as Dresden, and going to
Strasburg, returned to Paris by that road, without passing near
Brabant. In fact, two whole years passed without my seeing Francezka;
and when I saw her--but no more--

Many things happened to Count Saxe in those years, the most important
being the gift of the Castle of Chambord with an income to support it,
and the promise of being made Marshal of France if he were successful
in the war which was bound to break out soon, and actually did break
out in 1741. This gift of Chambord was made in January of 1740. The
king always had a fear that he might lose Count Saxe's services, for
the Courland business haunted my master--that dream of a throne and a
crown never quite left him. For that reason Louis XV determined to
attach Count Saxe permanently to France; and this royal gift of
Chambord, with its vast estates, its forests, fields and parks, made
Count Saxe at once the ruler of a principality.

There had been some hints of this, and Count Saxe had told me
privately that he would not accept any gift from the king, unless
coupled with the promise of the marshalship in the event of a
successful campaign. I can say of my own knowledge that Count Saxe
would rather be Marshal of France than to own Chambord, with
Versailles and the Louvre thrown in as makeweights.

On that Janua