ew fire in her eye, and also a something wholly new and
remarkable in her carriage and in the set of her head. This new light in
the eye and this new bearing were born of the authority and leadership
which had this day been vested in her by the decree of God, and they
asserted that authority as plainly as speech could have done it, yet
without ostentation or bravado. This calm consciousness of command, and
calm unconscious outward expression of it, remained with her thenceforth
until her mission was accomplished.

Like the other villagers, she had always accorded me the deference due
my rank; but now, without word said on either side, she and I changed
places; she gave orders, not suggestions. I received them with the
deference due a superior, and obeyed them without comment. In the
evening she said to me:

"I leave before dawn. No one will know it but you. I go to speak with
the governor of Vaucouleurs as commanded, who will despise me and treat
me rudely, and perhaps refuse my prayer at this time. I go first to
Burey, to persuade my uncle Laxart to go with me, it not being meet that
I go alone. I may need you in Vaucouleurs; for if the governor will not
receive me I will dictate a letter to him, and so must have some one by
me who knows the art of how to write and spell the words. You will go
from here to-morrow in the afternoon, and remain in Vaucouleurs until I
need you."

I said I would obey, and she went her way. You see how clear a head she
had, and what a just and level judgment. She did not order me to go with
her; no, she would not subject her good name to gossiping remark. She
knew that the governor, being a noble, would grant me, another noble,
audience; but no, you see, she would not have that, either. A poor
peasant-girl presenting a petition through a young nobleman--how would
that look? She always protected her modesty from hurt; and so, for
reward, she carried her good name unsmirched to the end. I knew what I
must do now, if I would have her approval: go to Vaucouleurs, keep out
of her sight, and be ready when wanted.

I went the next afternoon, and took an obscure lodging; the next day I
called at the castle and paid my respects to the governor, who invited
me to dine with him at noon of the following day. He was an ideal
soldier of the time; tall, brawny, gray-headed, rough, full of strange
oaths acquired here and there and yonder in the wars and treasured as if
they were decorations. He had been