postponement, although formerly it had been understood that in the
present autumn the marriage should be celebrated.

The young count had at the assembly of the States General been
a prominent liberal, and had been one of those who had taken his
seat with the third estate and had voted for the abolition of the
special privileges of the nobility, but the violence of the Assembly
had alarmed and disgusted him, and in the winter he had left Paris
and returned to his father's estates.

Ernest and Harry studied with the abbe, and fenced and rode as usual
with M. du Tillet after his return from Holland. The ever-darkening
cloud weighed upon their spirits, and yet life at the chateau was
pleasant. The absence of their parents and the general feeling of
anxiety knit the rest of the family closer together. Much of the
ceremonial observance which had, on his first arrival, surprised
and amused Harry was now laid aside. Marie, happy in the visits
of her lover and at the prospect of her approaching marriage, did
her best to make the house cheerful. Harry, who had not much liked
her at first, now found her most pleasant and agreeable, and the
younger girls walked in the grounds with their brothers and chatted
when they were gathered in the evening just as Harry's sisters had
done at home. Jeanne was, if the group broke up, generally Harry's
companion. Ever since the affair of the mad dog she had treated
him as her special friend, adopting all his opinions and falling
in with any suggestion he might make with a readiness which caused
Ernest one day to say laughingly to Harry:

"One would think, Harry that you were Jeanne's elder brother, not
I. She listens to you with a good deal more deference than she does
to me."

The winter came and went. From time to time letters arrived from
Paris, but the news was always in the same strain. Things were going
worse and worse, the king was little more than a prisoner in the
hands of the people of Paris. The violence of the Assembly was
ever on the increase, the mob of Paris were the real masters of
the situation, the greater part of the nobility had fled, and any
who appeared in the streets were liable to insult.

The feeling in the provinces kept pace with that in Paris. Committees
were formed in every town and village and virtually superseded the
constituted authorities. Numbers of chateaux were burned, and the
peasants almost universally refused any longer to pay the dues to
their