im our help dear. The last time, all the burghers were
ennobled, and he gave them permission to buy seignorial estates and take
titles from the land without special letters from the king. You and I,
grandsons of the Goix through our mothers, are not we as good as any
lord?"

These words were so alarming to the jeweller and the two women that
they were followed by a dead silence. The ferments of 1789 were already
tingling in the veins of Lecamus, who was not yet so old but what he
could live to see the bold burghers of the Ligue.

"Are you selling well in spite of these troubles?" said Lallier to
Mademoiselle Lecamus.

"Troubles always do harm," she replied.

"That's one reason why I am so set on making my son a lawyer," said
Lecamus; "for squabbles and law go on forever."

The conversation then turned to commonplace topics, to the great
satisfaction of the jeweller, who was not fond of either political
troubles or audacity of thought.

III. THE CHATEAU DE BLOIS

The banks of the Loire, from Blois to Angers, were the favorite resort
of the last two branches of the royal race which occupied the throne
before the house of Bourbon. That beautiful valley plain so well
deserves the honor bestowed upon it by kings that we must here repeat
what was said of it by one of our most eloquent writers:--

"There is one province in France which is never sufficiently
admired. Fragrant as Italy, flowery as the banks of the
Guadalquivir, beautiful especially in its own characteristics,
wholly French, having always been French,--unlike in that respect
to our northern provinces, which have degenerated by contact with
Germany, and to our southern provinces, which have lived in
concubinage with Moors, Spaniards, and all other nationalities
that adjoined them. This pure, chaste, brave, and loyal province
is Touraine. Historic France is there! Auvergne is Auvergne,
Languedoc is only Languedoc; but Touraine is France; the most
national river for Frenchmen is the Loire, which waters Touraine.
For this reason we ought not to be surprised at the great number
of historically noble buildings possessed by those departments
which have taken the name, or derivations of the name, of the
Loire. At every step we take in this land of enchantment we
discover a new picture, bordered, it may be, by a river, or a
tranquil lake reflecting in its liquid depths a castle with
towers, and woods and sparkling water