mental processes. Not that Hector himself perhaps would thus have
described himself. The curve of the black crow's wing on his
somewhat retreating forehead, the tilt of his little hat, the swing
of his body above the hips as he walked, all bespoke Hector's
opinion of himself to be a good one. Valiant among men,
irresistible among the women of St. Genevieve, he was not the one
to mitigate his confidence in himself now that he found himself
free from competition and in the presence of a fair one whom in
sudden resolve he established in his affections as quite without
compare. In short, Hector had not tarried a second week at
Tallwoods before offering his hand and his cooper shop to Jeanne.

To the eyes of Jeanne herself, confined as they had been to the
offerings of a somewhat hopeless class of serving persons here or
there, this swaggering young man, with his broad shoulders, his
bulky body, his air of bravado, his easy speech, his ready arm,
offered a personality with which she was not too familiar, and
which did not lack its appeal. With Gallic caution she made
delicate inquiry of Hector's father as to the yearly returns and
probable future of the cooperage business at St. Genevieve, as to
the desirability of the surrounding country upon which the
cooperage business must base its own fortunes. All these matters
met her approval. Wherefore, the air of Jeanne became tinged with
a certain lofty condescension. In her own heart she trembled now,
not so much as to her own wisdom or her own future, but as to the
meeting which must be had between herself and her mistress.

This meeting at last did take place, not by the original motion of
Jeanne herself. The eye of her mistress had not been wholly blind
all these days.

"Jeanne," she demanded one day, "why are you away so much when I
desire you? I have often seen you and that young man yonder in
very close conversation. Since I stand with you as your guardian
and protector, I feel it my duty to inquire, although it is not in
the least my pleasure. You must have a care."

"Madame," expostulated Jeanne, "it is nothing, I assure you. _Rien
du tout--jamais de la vie_, Madame."

"Perhaps, but it is of such nothings that troubles sometimes come.
Tell, me, what has this young man said to you?"

"But, Madame!--"

"Tell me. It is quite my right to demand it."

"But he has said many things, Madame."

"As, for instance, that you please him, that you are beauti