ably found in it
something he did not like, for his tone of cheerful good-humor became
suddenly shaded with a perceptible tint of annoyance, when he murmured:

"There it is again! I was sure of it! It is the Little Countess!"

It is hardly necessary for me to add that I had recognized, in the Little
Countess, my Amazon with the blue plume, who, with or without plume, seems
to have always the same disposition. She recognized me perfectly also, on
her side, as you'll see directly. At the moment when we were reaching,
Monsieur Malouet and myself, the top of the stoop, leaving the rival
pretenders to vie and struggle with increasing ardor, the little countess,
intimidated perhaps by the presence of the marquis, resolved to put an end
to the scene, and thrust abruptly her cigarette into my hand, saying:

"Here! it's for you! After all, you jump better than any of them."

And she disappeared after this parting shaft, which possessed the double
advantage of hitting at once both the victor and the vanquished.

This was, so far as I am concerned, the last noticeable episode of the
evening. After a game or two of whist, I pretended a little fatigue, and
Monsieur de Malouet had the kindness to escort me in person to a pretty
little room, hung with chintz and contiguous to the library. I was
disturbed during part of the night by the monotonous sound of the piano
and the rumbling noise of the carriages, indications of civilization which
made me regret more bitterly than ever my poor Thebais.

CHAPTER V.

A DENUNCIATION OVERHEARD.

_28th September._

I had the satisfaction of discovering in the library of the marquis the
historical documents I needed. They form, indeed, a part of the ancient
archives of the abbey, and have a special interest for the family of
Malouet. It was one William Malouet, a very noble man and a knight, who,
about the middle of the twelfth century, with the consent of messieurs his
sons, Hughes, Foulgues, John, and Thomas, restored the church and founded
the abbey in favor of the order of the Benedictine monks, and for the
salvation of his soul and of the souls of his ancestors, granting unto the
congregation, among other dues and privileges, the fee-simple of the
lands of the abbey, the tithe of all its revenues, half the wool of its
flocks, three loads of wax to be received every year at Mount
Saint-Michel-on-the-sea; then the river, the moors, the woods, and the
mill, _et molendinum in eodem