the royal Bourbon coat-of-arms.

"A cock!" exclaimed she, after a moment's reflection; "a cock upon
Madame's shield! What can that mean, 'bon Dieu'! and it is not engraved
nor lithographed; it is drawn with a pencil."

"It is not a cock, it is a crowned gerfaut," said Madame de Bergenheim.

"A gerfaut! How do you know what a gerfaut is? At Corandeuil, in your
grandfather's time, there was a falconry, and I have seen gerfauts there,
but you--I tell you it is a cock, an old French cock; ugly thing! What
you take for a coronet--and it really does resemble one--is a badly drawn
cock's comb. How did this horrid creature come to be there? I should like
to know if such pretty tricks are permitted at the postoffice. People
protest against the 'cabinet noir', but it is a hundred times worse if
one is permitted to outrage with impunity peaceable families in their own
homes. I mean to find out who has played this trick. Will you be so kind
as to ring the bell?"

"It really is very strange!" said Madame de Bergenheim, pulling the
bell-rope with a vivacity which showed that she shared, if not the
indignation, at least the curiosity of her aunt.

A servant in green livery appeared.

"Who went to Remiremont yesterday for the newspapers?" asked Mademoiselle
de Corandeuil.

"It was Pere Rousselet, Mademoiselle," replied the servant.

"Where is Monsieur de Bergenheim?"

"Monsieur le Baron is playing billiards with Mademoiselle Aline."

"Send Leonard Rousselet here."

And Mademoiselle de Corandeuil settled herself back in her chair with the
dignity of a chancellor about to hold court.

CHAPTER III

A DIVIDED HOUSEHOLD

The servants in the castle of Bergenheim formed a family whose members
were far from living in harmony. The Baron managed his household himself,
and employed a large number of day-laborers, farm servants, and
kitchen-girls, whom the liveried servants treated with great disdain. The
rustics, on their side, resisted these privileged lackeys and called them
"coxcombs" and "Parisians," sometimes accompanying these remarks with the
most expressive blows. Between these tribes of sworn enemies a third
class, much less numerous, found them selves in a critical position;
these were the two servants brought by Mademoiselle de Corandeuil. It was
fortunate for them that their mistress liked large, vigorous men, and had
chosen them for their broad, military shoulders; but for that it would
have been impossible for