words of the
Empire--and she was frank in her judgments--monsieur would point to the
Cure with a smile. And the old man, come back from mass to breakfast at
the manor, and resting in the chimney corner, would say, "Not so
bad--not so bad!" rubbing his thin hands gently.

"Little mother!" Angelot said, and stepped up into the porch among the
chickens.

His eyes, quick to read her face, saw a shadow on it, and he wondered
who had done wrong, himself or his father.

"Enfin, te voila!" said Madame de la Mariniere. "Have you brought us
any game? Ah, I am glad--" as he showed her his well-filled bag. "Your
father came home two hours ago; he expected to find you here; he wanted
you to do some service or other for these cousins."

"I am sorry," said Angelot. "I could not leave Uncle Joseph. I have a
hundred things to tell you. Some rather serious, and some will make you
die of laughing, as they did me."

"Mon Dieu! I should be glad to laugh," said his mother.

Angelot had taken the basket from her hand, and was throwing the
chickens their last grain. She stood on the highest step, with a little
sigh which might have been of fatigue or of disgust, and her eyes, as
she gazed across the valley, were half angry, half melancholy. The sun
had gone down behind the opposite hills, and the broad front of the
Chateau de Lancilly, in full view of La Mariniere, looked grey and cold
against the woods, even in the warm twilight of that rosy evening.

"Strange, that it should be inhabited again!" Angelot had emptied the
basket, and stood beside his mother; the chickens bustled and scrambled
about the foot of the steps.

"Yes, and as I hear, by all the perfections," said Madame de la
Mariniere. "Herve de Sainfoy is more friendly than ever--and well he may
be--his wife is supremely pretty and agreeable, his younger girls are
most amiable, and as for Helene, nothing so enchantingly beautiful has
ever set foot in Anjou. Take care, my poor Ange, I beseech you."

Angelot laughed. "Then I suppose my father's next duty will be to find a
husband for her. I hear she is difficult--or her parents for her,
perhaps."

"Who told you so?"

"Monsieur de Mauves."

"What? the Prefect?"

"Yes. He sent his respectful compliments to you. I have been spending
the day at Les Chouettes with him and the new General. He--oh, mon Dieu,
mon Dieu!"

Angelot burst into a violent fit of laughing, and leaned, almost
helpless, against a pillar of the porch.