o kiss, and may God conduct you! Be worthy of your name and of
your father."

Then, as Homer says, "smiling under tears," she raised herself, pushed
her son from her, and said:

"Come, let me see you on horseback, fair sir!"

The silent traveller kissed the hands of his mother, and made a low bow
to her; he bowed also to the Duchess, without raising his eyes. Then,
embracing his elder brother, pressing the hand of the Marechal, and
kissing the forehead of his young sister almost simultaneously, he went
forth, and was on horseback in an instant. Every one went to the windows
which overlooked the court, except Madame d'Effiat, who was still seated
and suffering.

"He sets off at full gallop. That is a good sign," said the Marechal,
laughing.

"Oh, heavens!" cried the young Princess, retiring from the bay-window.

"What is the matter?" said the mother.

"Nothing, nothing!" said M. de Launay. "Your son's horse stumbled under
the gateway; but he soon pulled him up. See, he salutes us from the
road."

"Another ominous presage!" said the Marquise, upon retiring to her
apartments.

Every one imitated her by being silent or speaking low.

The day was sad, and in the evening the supper was silent at the chateau
of Chaumont.

At ten o'clock that evening, the old Marechal, conducted by his valet,
retired to the northern tower near the gateway, and opposite the river.
The heat was extreme; he opened the window, and, enveloping himself in
his great silk robe, placed a heavy candlestick upon the table and
desired to be left alone. His window looked out upon the plain, which the
moon, in her first quarter, indistinctly lighted; the sky was charged
with thick clouds, and all things disposed the mind to melancholy.
Although Bassompierre had nothing of the dreamer in his character, the
tone which the conversation had taken at dinner returned to his memory,
and he reconsidered his life, the sad changes which the new reign had
wrought in it, a reign which seemed to have breathed upon him a wind of
misfortune--the death of a cherished sister; the irregularities of the
heir of his name; the loss of his lands and of his favor; the recent fate
of his friend, the Marechal d'Effiat, whose chambers he now occupied. All
these thoughts drew from him an involuntary sigh, and he went to the
window to breathe.

At that moment he fancied he heard the tramp of a troop of horse at the
side of the wood; but the wind rising made him think th