.... Could this be the Countess de Vassart? What
a change!

I stepped forward to meet her, and took off my forage-cap.

"Is it true, monsieur, that you have come to arrest us?" she asked,
in a low voice.

"Yes, madame," I replied, already knowing that she was the Countess.
She hesitated; then:

"Will you tell me your name? I am Madame de Vassart."

Cap in hand I followed her to the table, where the company had already
risen. The young Countess presented me with undisturbed simplicity; I
bowed to my turkey-girl, who proved, after all, to be the actress from
the Odeon, Sylvia Elven; then I solemnly shook hands with Dr. Leo
Delmont, Professor Claude Tavernier, and Monsieur Bazard,
ex-instructor at the Fontainebleau Artillery School, whom I
immediately recognized as the snipe-faced notary I had met on the
road.

"Well, sir," exclaimed Dr. Delmont, in his deep, hearty voice, "if
this peaceful little community is come under your government's
suspicion, I can only say, Heaven help France!"

"Is not that what we all say in these times, doctor?" I asked.

"When I say 'Heaven help France!' I do not mean Vive l'Empereur!'"
retorted the big doctor, dryly.

Professor Tavernier, a little, gray-headed savant with used-up eyes,
asked me mildly if he might know why they all were to be expelled from
France. I did not reply.

"Is thought no longer free in France?" asked Dr. Delmont, in his
heavy voice.

"Thought is free in France," I replied, "but its expression is
sometimes inadvisable, doctor."

"And the Emperor is to be the judge of when it is advisable to
express one's thoughts?" inquired Professor Tavernier.

"The Emperor," I said, "is generous, broad-minded, and wonderfully
tolerant. Only those whose attitude incites to disorder are held in
check."

"According to the holy Code Napoleon," observed Professor Tavernier,
with a shrug.

"The code kills the body, Napoleon the soul," said Dr. Delmont,
gravely.

"It was otherwise with Victor Noir," suggested Mademoiselle Elven.

"Yes," added Delmont, "he asked for justice and they gave him ...
Pierre!"

"I think we are becoming discourteous to our guest, gentlemen," said
the young Countess, gently.

I bowed to her. After a moment I said: "Doctor, if you do truly
believe in that universal brotherhood which apparently even tolerates
within its boundaries a poor devil of the Imperial Police, if your
creed really means peace and not violence, suffering and patience,