both.

"It is a generous offer," said, she, "but one we cannot accept. We
cannot live under so great an obligation. Is all the generosity to be on
the side of this Bonapartist? Are we noble in name only? What would our
father have said to such a proposal?"

Josephine hung her head. The baroness groaned.

"No, mother," continued Rose; "let house and land go, but honor and true
nobility remain."

"What shall I do? you are cruel to me, Rose."

"Mamma," cried the enthusiastic girl, "we need depend on no one.
Josephine and I have youth and spirit."

"But no money."

"We have plenty of jewels, and pictures, and movables. We can take a
farm."

"A farm!" shrieked the baroness.

"Why, his uncle has a farm, and we have had recourse to him for help:
better a farmhouse than an almshouse, though that almshouse were a
palace instead of a chateau."

Josephine winced and held up her hand deprecatingly. The baroness paled:
it was a terrible stroke of language to come from her daughter. She said
sternly, "There is no answer to that. We were born nobles, let us die
farmers: only permit me to die first."

"Forgive me, mother," said Rose, kneeling. "I was wrong; it is for me
to obey you, not to dictate. I speak no more." And, after kissing her
mother and Josephine, she crept away, but she left her words sticking in
both their consciences.

"HIS uncle," said the shrewd old lady. "She is no longer a child; and
she says his uncle. This makes me half suspect it is her that dear
boy--Josephine, tell me the truth, which of you is it?"

"Dear mother, who should it be? they are nearly of an age: and what man
would not love our sweet Rose, that had eyes or a heart?"

The baroness sighed deeply; and was silent. After awhile she said, "The
moment they have a lover, he detaches their hearts from their poor old
mother. She is no longer what my Josephine is to me."

"Mamma, she is my superior. I see it more and more every day. She is
proud: she is just; she looks at both sides. As for me, I am too apt to
see only what will please those I love."

"And that is the daughter for me," cried the poor baroness, opening her
arms wide to her.

The next morning when they were at breakfast, in came Jacintha to say
the officer was in the dining-room and wanted to speak with the young
lady he talked to yesterday. Josephine rose and went to him. "Well,
mademoiselle," said he gayly, "the old woman was right. Here I have just
got my orders to mar