frowned. "I am no coward--I am an experienced man. And I tell
you--I, with the weight of forty years behind me--that they will find
you some time."

"And I tell you--I," mimicked Rosette saucily, "with the weight of my
twelve years behind me--that I have lived through so many perils, I
should be able to live through another!"

"'Tis just that!" said the farmer angrily. "You have no prudence; you
take too many risks; you expose yourself to fearful dangers." He
shuddered.

"What you fear is that I shall expose you," returned Rosette cheerfully.
"He, well! a man can but die once, Farmer Paulet."

"That is just it!" exclaimed the farmer vivaciously. "If I had six lives
I should not mind dying five times; but having only the one, I cannot
afford to lose it! And, besides, I have my wife to think of."

Rosette meditated a moment. "Better late than never, Farmer Paulet. I
have heard tell you never thought of that before." The sharp little face
softened. "She is a good woman, your wife!"

"True, true! She is a good woman, and you would not care for her to be
widowed. Consider if it would not be better if I placed you in safety
elsewhere."

"Jean Paulet! Jean Paulet!" mocked Rosette; "I doubt if I should do your
wife a kindness if I saved your skin."

Jean Paulet wagged a forefinger at her angrily. "You will come to a bad
end with a tongue like that! If it were not for the respect I owe to
Monsieur de Marigny----"

"Marigny's pistol!" interrupted Rosette.

"Ah, bah! What is to prevent my abandoning you?" asked the farmer
furiously.

Rosette swung her bare legs thoughtfully. "Papa Marigny is a man of his
word--and you lack five of your half-dozen lives, Jean Paulet."

"See you it is dangerous!" returned her protector desperately. "My wife
she is not here to advise me; she is in the fields----"

"I have noticed she works hard," murmured Rosette.

[Sidenote: To the Uplands!]

"And I will not keep you here. But for the respect I owe Monsieur de
Marigny, I am willing to sacrifice something. I have a dozen of sheep in
the field down there--ah! la, la! they represent a lifetime's savings,
but I will sacrifice them for my safety--no, no; for Monsieur de
Marigny, I mean!" he wailed. "You shall drive them to the uplands and
stay there out of danger. I do not think you will meet with soldiers;
but if you do, at the worst they will only take a sheep--ah! my sheep!"
he broke off distressfully. "Now do not argue. Get you gon