g,
and her whole figure shook like a jelly on a dish, but as she went
higher and higher; she became too giddy and was frightened. Each time
the swing came down she uttered a piercing scream, which made all the
little urchins in the neighborhood come round, and down below, beneath
the garden hedge, she vaguely saw a row of mischievous heads making
various grimaces as they laughed.

When a servant girl came out they ordered luncheon.

"Some fried fish, a rabbit saute, salad and dessert," Madame Dufour
said, with an important air.

"Bring two quarts of beer and a bottle of claret," her husband said.

"We will have lunch on the grass," the girl added.

The grandmother, who had an affection for cats, had been running after
one that belonged to the house, trying to coax it to come to her for the
last ten minutes. The animal, who was no doubt secretly flattered by her
attentions, kept close to the good woman, but just out of reach of
her hand, and quietly walked round the trees, against which she rubbed
herself, with her tail up, purring with pleasure.

"Hello!" suddenly exclaimed the young man with the yellow hair, who was
wandering about. "Here are two swell boats!" They all went to look
at them and saw two beautiful canoes in a wooden shed; they were as
beautifully finished as if they had been ornamental furniture. They
hung side by side, like two tall, slender girls, in their narrow shining
length, and made one wish to float in them on warm summer mornings and
evenings along the flower-covered banks of the river, where the trees
dip their branches into the water, where the rushes are continually
rustling in the breeze and where the swift kingfishers dart about like
flashes of blue lightning.

The whole family looked at them with great respect.

"Oh, they are indeed swell boats!" Monsieur Dufour repeated gravely, as
he examined them like a connoiseur. He had been in the habit of rowing
in his younger days, he said, and when he had spat in his hands--and he
went through the action of pulling the oars--he did not care a fig
for anybody. He had beaten more than one Englishman formerly at the
Joinville regattas. He grew quite excited at last and offered to make
a bet that in a boat like that he could row six leagues an hour without
exerting himself.

"Luncheon is ready," the waitress said, appearing at the entrance to
the boathouse, and they all hurried off. But two young men had taken
the very seats that Madame Dufo