the midst
of this group of half-grown girls like a young cock among the hens of
his harem. Frederic d'Argy, the young naval officer, who was enjoying
his holiday, as M. de Nailles had said, was enjoying it exceedingly.
How often, long after, on board the ship Floye, as he paced the silent
quarter-deck, far from any opportunity of flirting, did he recall
the forms and faces of these young girls, some dark, some fair, some
rosy-half-women and half-children, who made much of him, and scolded
him, and teased him, and contended for his attentions, while no better
could be had, on purpose to tease one another. Oh! what a delightful
time he had had! They did not leave him to himself one moment. He had to
lift them into their saddles, to assist them as they clambered over the
rocks, to superintend their attempts at swimming, to dance with them all
by turns, and to look after them in the difficult character of Mentor,
for he was older than they, and were they not entrusted to his care?
What a serious responsibility! Had not Mentor even found himself too
often timid and excited when one little firm foot was placed in his
hand, when his arm was round one little waist, when he could render her
as a cavalier a thousand little services, or accept with gladness the
role of her consoler. He did everything he could think of to please
them, finding all of them charming, though Jacqueline never ceased to be
the one he preferred, a preference which she might easily have inferred
from the poor lad's unusual timidity and awkwardness when he was brought
into contact with her. But she paid no attention to his devotion,
accepting himself and all he did for her as, in some sort, her personal
property.

He was of no consequence, he did not count; what was he but her comrade
and former playfellow?

Happily for Fred, he took pleasure in the familiarity with which she
treated him--a familiarity which, had he known it, was not flattering.
He was in the seventh heaven for a whole fortnight, during which he was
the recipient of more dried flowers and bows of ribbon than he ever got
in all the rest of his life--the American girls were very fond of giving
keepsakes--but then his star waned. He was no longer the only one. The
grown-up brother of the Wermants came to Treport--Raoul, with his air
of a young man about town--a boulevardier, with his jacket cut in the
latest fashion, with his cockle-shell of a boat, which he managed as
well on salt water as