"

There were all the Christmas festivities, and Jeanne did enjoy them.
Afterward--some of the days were very long it seemed. She was tired of
the great white blanket of snow and ice, and the blackness of the
evergreens that in the cold turned to groups of strange monsters. Bears
came down out of the woods, the sheep dogs and their masters had fights
with wolves; there were dances and the merry sounds of the violin in
every household where there were men and boys. Then Lent, not very
strictly kept after all, and afterward Easter and the glorious spring.

Jeanne woke into new life. "I must go out for the first wild flowers,"
she said to Pani. "It seems years since I had any. And the robin and the
thrush and the wild pigeons have come back, and the trees bud with the
baths of sunshine. All the air is throbbing with fragrance."

Pani looked disturbed.

"Oh, thou wilt not go to the woods?" she cried.

"I will take Wenonah and one of the boys. They are sturdy now and can
howl enough to scare even a panther. No, Pani, there is no one to carry
me away. They would know that I should slip through their fingers;" and
she laughed with the old time joyousness.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A HEARTACHE FOR SOME ONE.

"Jeanne," exclaimed Father Rameau, "thou art wanted at the Chapter
house."

He stood in the doorway of the little cottage and glanced curiously at
the two inmates. Pani often amused herself cutting fringe for Wenonah,
under the impression that it was needed in haste, and she was very happy
over it. A bowl of violets and wild honeysuckle stood on the table, and
some green branches hung about giving the room the odor of the new
season and an air of rejoicing.

"What now?" She took his wrinkled old hand in hers so plump and dimpled.
"Have I committed some new sin? I have been so glad for days and days
that I could only rejoice."

"No, not sin. It is to hear a strange story and to be happier, perhaps."

He looked curiously at her. "Oh, something has happened!" she cried. Was
it possible M. St. Armand had returned? For days her mind had been full
of him. And he would be the guest of the Fleurys.

"Yes, I should spoil it in the telling, and I had strict injunctions."
There was an air of mystery about him.

Surely there was no trouble. But what could they want with her? A
strange story! Could some one have learned about her mother or her
father?

"I will change my attire in a moment. Pani, Margot will gladly come