lse, extended their arms to him and cried: "It is you,
Dagobert--then we are safe!"

"Yes, my children, it is I," said the veteran, taking their hands in his,
and pressing them joyfully. "So you have been much frightened during my
absence?"

"Oh, frightened to death!"

"If you knew--oh, goodness! if you knew--"

"But the lamp is extinguished--why is that?"

"We did not do it."

"Come--recover yourselves, poor children, and tell me all about it. I
have no good opinion of this inn; but, luckily, we shall soon leave it.
It was an ill wind that blew me hither--though, to be sure, there was no
other in the village. But what has happened?"

"You were hardly gone, when the window flew open violently, and the lamp
and table fell together with a loud crash."

"Then our courage failed--we screamed and clasped each other, for we
thought we could hear some one moving in the room."

"And we were so frightened, that we fainted away."

Unfortunately, persuaded that it was the violence of the wind which had
already broken the glass, and shaken the window, Dagobert attributed this
second accident to the same cause as the first, thinking that he had not
properly secured the fastening and that the orphans had been deceived by
a false alarm. "Well, well--it is over now," said he to them: "Calm
yourselves, and don't think of it any more."

"But why did you leave us so hastily, Dagobert?"

"Yes, now I remember--did we not hear a great noise, sister, and see
Dagobert run to the staircase, crying: 'My horse! what are they doing to
my horse?'"

"It was then Jovial who neighed?"

These questions renewed the anguish of the soldier; he feared to answer
them, and said, with a confused air: "Yes--Jovial neighed--but it was
nothing. By the by, we must have a light here. Do you know where I put my
flint and steel last evening? Well, I have lost my senses; it is here in
my pocket. Luckily, too, we have a candle, which I am going to light; I
want to look in my knapsack for some papers I require."

Dagobert struck a few sparks, obtained a light, and saw that the window
was indeed open, the table thrown down, and the lamp lying by the side of
the knapsack. He shut the window, set the little table on its feet again,
placed the knapsack upon it, and began to unbuckle this last in order to
take out his portfolio, which had been deposited along with his cross and
purse, in a kind of pocket between the outside and the lining. The straps
had