I must hold my tongue. If I had set about this
business in the right fashion it would have been painful to you, and God
forbid that I should give you the slightest annoyance."

"But I do not understand you, commandant."

"Let the matter drop. I am not ill; I have spent a pleasant day, and
I will go back to-morrow. Whenever you come to Grenoble, you will find
that you have one more friend there, who will be your friend through
thick and thin. Pierre Joseph Genestas' sword and purse are at your
disposal, and I am yours to the last drop of my blood. Well, after all,
your words have fallen on good soil. When I am pensioned off, I will
look for some out-of-the-way little place, and be mayor of it, and try
to follow your example. I have not your knowledge, but I will study at
any rate."

"You are right, sir; the landowner who spends his time in convincing
a commune of the folly of some mistaken notion of agriculture, confers
upon his country a benefit quite as great as any that the most skilful
physician can bestow. The latter lessens the sufferings of some few
individuals, and the former heals the wounds of his country. But you
have excited my curiosity to no common degree. Is there really something
in which I can be of use to you?"

"Of use?" repeated the commandant in an altered voice.

"_Mon Dieu!_ I was about to ask you to do me a service which is all but
impossible, M. Benassis. Just listen a moment! I have killed a good many
Christians in my time, it is true; but you may kill people and keep a
good heart for all that; so there are some things that I can feel and
understand, rough as I look."

"But go on!"

"No, I do not want to give you any pain if I can help it."

"Oh! commandant, I can bear a great deal."

"It is a question of a child's life, sir," said the officer, nervously.

Benassis suddenly knitted his brows, but by a gesture he entreated
Genestas to continue.

"A child," repeated the commandant, "whose life may yet be saved by
constant watchfulness and incessant care. Where could I expect to find
a doctor capable of devoting himself to a single patient? Not in a town,
that much was certain. I had heard you spoken of as an excellent man,
but I wished to be quite sure that this reputation was well founded. So
before putting my little charge into the hands of this M. Benassis of
whom people spoke so highly, I wanted to study him myself. But now----"

"Enough," said the doctor; "so this child is your