lease, was enough to inspire hope in the
young man's breast; but Mademoiselle de Verneuil bowed to him, as
she took her place, with a slight inclination of her head and without
looking at him, putting him aside with an apparently light-hearted
carelessness which disconcerted him. This coolness might have seemed to
an observer neither caution nor coquetry, but indifference, natural or
feigned. The candid expression on the young lady's face only made it the
more impenetrable. She showed no consciousness of her charms, and was
apparently gifted with the pretty manners that win all hearts, and
had already duped the natural self-conceit of the young sailor. Thus
baffled, the youth returned to his own seat with a sort of vexation.

Mademoiselle de Verneuil took Francine, who accompanied her, by the hand
and said, in a caressing voice, turning to Madame de Gua: "Madame, will
you have the kindness to allow this young girl, who is more a friend
than a servant to me, to sit with us? In these perilous times such
devotion as hers can only be repaid by the heart; indeed, that is very
nearly all that is left to us."

Madame du Gua replied to the last words, which were said half aside,
with a rather unceremonious bow that betrayed her annoyance at the
beauty of the new-comer. Then she said, in a low voice, to her son:
"'Perilous times,' 'devotion,' 'madame,' 'servant'! that is not
Mademoiselle de Verneuil; it is some girl sent here by Fouche."

The guests were about to sit down when Mademoiselle de Verneuil noticed
Corentin, who was still employed in a close scrutiny of the mother and
son, who were showing some annoyance at his glances.

"Citizen," she said to him, "you are no doubt too well bred to dog my
steps. The Republic, when it sent my parents to the scaffold, did not
magnanimously provide me with a guardian. Though you have, from extreme
and chivalric gallantry accompanied me against my will to this place"
(she sighed), "I am quite resolved not to allow your protecting care to
become a burden to you. I am safe now, and you can leave me."

She gave him a fixed and contemptuous look. Corentin understood her; he
repressed the smile which almost curled the corners of his wily lips as
he bowed to her respectfully.

"Citoyenne," he said, "it is always an honor to obey you. Beauty is the
only queen a Republican can serve."

Mademoiselle de Verneuil's eyes, as she watched him depart, shone
with such natural pleasure, she looked