augh and cry at intervals; and as
the old lady continued her manipulations with a candlestick on an oak
table near, while the colonel shouted for various unattainable remedies
at the top of his voice, the scene was anything but decorous--the abbe,
who alone seemed to preserve his sanity, having as much as he could do
to prevent the little count from strangling me with his own hands; such,
at least, his violent gestures seemed to indicate. As for the priest
and the mayor and the she-mayor, they had all fled long before. There
appeared now but one course for me, which was to fly also. There was no
knowing what intemperate act the count might commit under his present
excitement; it was clear they were all labouring under a delusion, which
nothing at the present moment could elucidate. A nod from the abbe and
a motion towards the open door decided my wavering resolution. I rushed
out, over the gallery and down the road, not knowing whither, nor
caring.

I might as well try to chronicle the sensations of my raving intellect
in my first fever in boyhood as convey any notion of what passed through
my brain for the next two hours. I sat on a rock beside the river,
vainly endeavouring to collect my scattered thoughts, which only
presented to me a vast chaos of a wood and a crusader, a priest and a
lady, veal cutlets and music, a big book, an old lady in fits, and a
man in sky-blue stockings. The rolling near me of a carriage with four
horses aroused me for a second, but I could not well say why, and all
was again still, and I sat there alone.

'He must be somewhere near this,' said a voice, as I heard the tread of
footsteps approaching; 'this is his hat. Ah, here he is.' At the same
moment the abbe stood beside me. 'Come along, now; don't stay here in
the cold,' said he, taking me by the arm. 'They've all gone home two
hours ago. I have remained to ride back the nag in the morning.'

I followed without a word.

'_Ma foi!_' said he, 'it is the first occasion in my life where I could
not see my way through a difficulty. What, in Heaven's name, were you
about? What was your plan?'

'Give me half an hour in peace,' said I; 'and if I'm not deranged before
it's over, I'll tell you.'

The abbe complied, and I fulfilled my promise--though in good sooth
the shouts of laughter with which he received my story caused many an
interruption. When I had finished, he began, and leisurely proceeded
to inform me that Bouvigne's great celebr