ad reached the whole valley lay before
their eyes, from distant Grenoble to the little lake at the foot of the
circle of crags by which Genestas had passed on the previous day. Some
little distance above the house a line of poplars on the hill indicated
the highway that led to Grenoble. Rays of sunlight fell slantwise across
the little town which glittered like a diamond, for the soft red light
which poured over it like a flood was reflected by all its window-panes.
Genestas reined in his horse at the sight, and pointed to the dwellings
in the valley, to the new town, and to La Fosseuse's house.

"Since the victory of Wagram, and Napoleon's return to the Tuileries in
1815," he said, with a sigh, "nothing has so stirred me as the sight of
all this. I owe this pleasure to you, sir, for you have taught me to see
beauty in a landscape."

"Yes," said the doctor, smiling as he spoke, "It is better to build
towns than to storm them."

"Oh! sir, how about the taking of Moscow and the surrender of Mantua!
Why, you do not really know what that means! Is it not a glory for all
of us? You are a good man, but Napoleon also was a good man. If it had
not been for England, you both would have understood each other, and
our Emperor would never have fallen. There are no spies here," said the
officer, looking around him, "and I can say openly that I love him, now
that he is dead! What a ruler! He knew every man when he saw him!
He would have made you a Councillor of State, for he was a great
administrator himself; even to the point of knowing how many cartridges
were left in the men's boxes after an action. Poor man! While you were
talking about La Fosseuse, I thought of him, and how he was lying dead
in St. Helena! Was that the kind of climate and country to suit _him_,
whose seat had been a throne, and who had lived with his feet in the
stirrups; hein? They say that he used to work in the garden. The
deuce! He was not made to plant cabbages.... And now we must serve the
Bourbons, and loyally, sir; for, after all, France is France, as you
were saying yesterday."

Genestas dismounted as he uttered these last words, and mechanically
followed the example set by Benassis, who fastened his horse's bridle to
a tree.

"Can she be away?" said the doctor, when he did not see La Fosseuse on
the threshold. They went into the house, but there was no one in the
sitting room on the ground floor.

"She must have heard the sound of a second horse