The escort was moving on. The streets were too narrow to have any great
throng of carriages, but General Wayne stepped into one. (The hospitable
De Moirel House had been placed at his service until he could settle
himself to his liking.) Madame Moirel and her two daughters, with
Laurent St. Armand, were in the one that followed. Some of the officers
and the chief citizens were on horseback.

Then the crowd began to disperse in the slow, leisurely fashion of
people who have little to do. Some men took to their boats. It did not
need much to make a holiday then, and many were glad of the excuse. A
throng of idlers followed in the _chemin du ronde_.

Pani and her charge turned in the other direction. There was the thud of
a horse, and Jeanne stepped half aside, then gave a gay, bright laugh as
she shook the curls out of her eyes.

"So you have not forgotten me?" said the attractive voice that would
have almost won one against his will.

"O no, M'sieu. I knew you in a moment. I could not forget you."

"Thank you, _ma fille_." The simple adoration touched him. Her eyes
were full of the subtle glow of delight.

"You know what we spoke of that day, and now General Wayne has come. Did
you see him?"

"O yes, M'sieu. I looked sharp."

"And were you pleased?" Something in her expression led him to think she
was not quite satisfied, yet he smiled.

"I think you are grander," she returned, simply.

Then he laughed, but it was such a tender sound no one could be offended
at it.

"Monsieur," with a curious dignity, "did you ever see a king?"

"Yes, my child, two of them. The English king, and the poor French king
who was put to death, and the great Napoleon, the Emperor."

"Were they very--I know one splendid word, M'sieu, _magnifique_, but I
like best the way the English say it, magnificent. And were they--"

"They were and are common looking men. Your Washington here is a peer to
them. My child, kings are of human clay like other men; not as good or
as noble as many another one."

"I am sorry," she said, with quiet gravity, which betrayed her
disappointment.

"And you do not like General Wayne?"

"O Monsieur, he has done great things for us. I hear them talk about
him. Yes, you know I _must_ like him, that is--I do not understand about
likes and all that, why your heart suddenly goes out to one person and
shuts up to another when neither of them may have done anything for
you. I have been thinking of so many th