e possession of a company of speculators,
who had divided it and resold it to various purchasers. Only the farm of
Valpendant, with a house of ancient and vast construction, built in
the time of Philippe-Auguste, remained to an old tenant, with his
dependencies and his primitive methods of agriculture.

Leaving the train at the Beaumont tunnel, the two travellers made their
way along a road which crosses the high plateau that separates the
forest of Carnelle from the forest of the Ile-d'Adam, whence one can
discern the steeple of Prerolles rising above the banks of the Oise.

From this culminating point they beheld the chateau transformed into
a factory, the park cut up into countryseats, the fields turned into
market-gardens! With profound sadness the brother and the sister met
each other's glance, and their eyes filled with tears, as if they stood
before a tomb on All Souls' Day.

"No expiation is possible," said Henri to Jeanne, pressing her hand
convulsively. "I must go--I must move on forever and ever, like the
Wandering Jew."

Thanks to the influence of the Duke of Montgeron, whose faithful
constituents had sent him to the National Assembly, his brother-in-law
had been transferred to a regiment of zouaves, of which he became
colonel in 1875, whereupon he decided to remain in Africa during the
rest of his life.

But Tunis and Tonquin opened new horizons to him. Landing as a
brigadier-general at Haiphong, he was about to assume, at Bac-Ninh, his
third star, when the Minister of War, examining the brilliant record
of this officer who, since 1862, never had ceased his service to his
country, called him to take command of one of the infantry divisions
of the army of Paris, a place which he had occupied only a few months
before the events related in the preceding chapter.

CHAPTER XI. EUGENIE GONTIER

Few salons in Paris have so imposing an air as the foyer of the
dramatic artists of the Comedie Francaise, a rectangular room of fine
proportions, whose walls are adorned with portraits of great actors,
representing the principal illustrations of the plays that have been
the glory of the house Mademoiselle Duclos, by Largilliere; Fleury, by
Gerard; Moliere crowned, by Mignard; Baron, by De Troy, and many others.

At the left of the entrance, separated by a large, high mirror which
faced the fireplace, two other canvases, signed by Geffroy, represent
the foyer itself, in costumes of the classic repertoire, th