he thought the
traditions of Scottish heroic women in whose heroism he had gloated. And
yet he was wrong: Madame de Bourke was capable of as much resolute self-
devotion as any of the ladies on the other side of the Channel, but tears
were a tribute required by the times. So she gave way to them--just as
no doubt the women of former days saw nothing absurd in bottling them.

Arthur's position among all these weeping figures was extremely awkward,
all the more so that he carried his sword upright between his legs, not
daring to disturb the lachrymose company enough to dispose of it in the
sword case appropriated to weapons. He longed to take out the little
pocket Virgil, which Lord Nithsdale had given him, so as to have some
occupation for his eyes, but he durst not, lest he should be thought
rude, till, at a halt at a cabaret to water the horses, the striking of a
clock reminded the Abbe that it was the time for reading the Hours, and
when the breviary was taken out, Arthur thought his book might follow it.

By and by there was a halt at Corbeil, where was the nunnery of Alice
Bourke, of whom her brother and sister-in-law were to take leave. They,
with the children, were set down there, while Arthur went on with the
carriage and servants to the inn to dine.

It was the first visit of Ulysse to the convent, and he was much amazed
at peeping at his aunt's hooded face through a grating. However, the
family were admitted to dine in the refectory; but poor Madame de Bourke
was fit for nothing but to lie on a bed, attended affectionately by her
sister-in-law, Soeur Ste. Madeleine.

'O sister, sister,' was her cry, 'I must say it to you--I would not to my
poor mother--that I have the most horrible presentiments I shall never
see her again, nor my poor child. No, nor my husband; I knew it when he
took leave of me for that terrible Spain.'

'Yet you see he is safe, and you will be with him, sister,' returned the
nun.

'Ah! that I knew I should! But think of those fearful Pyrenees, and the
bandits that infest them--and all the valuables we carry with us!'

'Surely I heard that Marshal Berwick had offered you an escort.'

'That will only attract the attention of the brigands and bring them in
greater force. O sister, sister, my heart sinks at the thought of my
poor children in the hands of those savages! I dream of them every
night.'

'The suite of an ambassador is sacred.'

'Ah! but what do they care for that