ants of France still wear over their other
garments, as peculiarly adapted to their humid climate and their
laborious habits.

When the old man had reached the group of personages of whom we have just
spoken, he took off his hat--an example immediately followed by his whole
family--and showed a face tanned with exposure to the weather, a forehead
bald and wrinkled with age, and long, white hair. His shoulders were bent
with years and labor, but he was still a hale and sturdy man. He was
received with an air of welcome, and even of respect, by one of the
gravest of the grave group he had approached, who, without uncovering,
however, extended to him his hand.

"What! good Father Guillaume Leroux!" said he, "and have you, too, left
our farm of La Chenaie to visit the town, when it's not market-day? Why,
'tis as if your oxen were to unharness themselves and go hunting, leaving
their work to see a poor rabbit run down!"

"Faith, Monsieur le Comte du Lude," replied the farmer, "for that matter,
sometimes the rabbit runs across our path of itself; but, in truth, I've
a notion that some of the people here want to make fools of us, and so
I've come to see about it."

"Enough of that, my friend," returned the Count; "here is Monsieur
Fournier, the Advocate, who assuredly will not deceive you, for he
resigned his office of Attorney-General last night, that he might
henceforth devote his eloquence to the service of his own noble thoughts.
You will hear him, perhaps, to-day, though truly, I dread his appearing
for his own sake as much as I desire it for that of the accused."

"I care not for myself," said Fournier; "truth is with me a passion, and
I would have it taught in all times and all places."

He that spoke was a young man, whose face, pallid in the extreme, was
full of the noblest expression. His blond hair, his light-blue eyes, his
thinness, the delicacy of his frame, made him at first sight seem younger
than he was; but his thoughtful and earnest countenance indicated that
mental superiority and that precocious maturity of soul which are
developed by deep study in youth, combined with natural energy of
character. He was attired wholly in black, with a short cloak in the
fashion of the day, and carried under his left arm a roll of documents,
which, when speaking, he would take in the right hand and grasp
convulsively, as a warrior in his anger grasps the pommel of his sword.
At one moment it seemed as if he were about