it
will take you some time to get your degree as consul."

A general laugh put an end to the discussion, for Clef-des-Coeurs found
no suitable reply in his pouch with which to floor his adversary.

"Come and make our rounds; I'll go to the right," said Beau-Pied.

"Very good, I'll take the left," replied his comrade. "But stop one
minute, I must have a glass of cider; my throat is glued together like
the oiled-silk of Hulot's best hat."

The left bank of the gardens, which Clef-des-Coeurs thus delayed
searching at once, was, unhappily, the dangerous slope where Francine
had seen the moving line of men. All things go by chance in war.

As Gerard entered the salon and bowed to the company he cast a
penetrating eye on the men who were present. Suspicions came forcibly to
his mind, and he went at once to Mademoiselle de Verneuil and said in a
low voice: "I think you had better leave this place immediately. We are
not safe here."

"What can you fear while I am with you?" she answered, laughing. "You
are safer here than you would be at Mayenne."

A woman answers for her lover in good faith. The two officers were
reassured. The party now moved into the dining-room after some
discussion about a guest, apparently of some importance, who had not
appeared. Mademoiselle de Verneuil was able, thanks to the silence which
always reigns at the beginning of a meal, to give some attention to the
character of the assemblage, which was curious enough under existing
circumstances. One thing struck her with surprise. The Republican
officers seemed superior to the rest of the assembly by reason of their
dignified appearance. Their long hair tied behind in a queue drew lines
beside their foreheads which gave, in those days, an expression of great
candor and nobleness to young heads. Their threadbare blue uniforms
with the shabby red facings, even their epaulets flung back behind their
shoulders (a sign throughout the army, even among the leaders, of a lack
of overcoats),--all these things brought the two Republican officers
into strong relief against the men who surrounded them.

"Oh, they are the Nation, and that means liberty!" thought Marie; then,
with a glance at the royalists, she added, "on the other side is a man,
a king, and privileges." She could not refrain from admiring Merle, so
thoroughly did that gay soldier respond to the ideas she had formed of
the French trooper who hums a tune when the balls are whistling,
and jests