Lord's, this fierce successor of our gentle Moses,
shall wade through his oceans of blood to gain the stone. God
knoweth--He only--how all this shall end, whether in success or
overthrow. It is so far wrapped in mystery."

As if she saw from some spiritual height the reign of terror she
predicted, she dropped her head upon her hands and closed her eyes, and
I felt my blood creep slowly through my veins as I followed her in
thought across the waste of woe and desolation. For there was something
in her manner, her voice (august and solemn with age and wisdom as these
were), that impressed all who heard, with or in spite of their own
consent, and for a time profound silence succeeded this harangue.

Dr. Durand was the first to recover himself. "I trust, my dear madame,"
he remarked, "that the substantial horrors realized in your youth still
cast their dark shadows over the coming years, and so deceive you into
prophecies that it is sad to hear from lips so reverent, and which, let
us all pray, may never be realized. You yourself will say amen to that,
I am convinced."

"Amen!" she murmured.

"Nonsense, Durand! don't play at hypocrite in your old age, after having
been a true man all your life," broke in Major Favraud. "What is a
conservative, after all, but a social parrot, who repeats 'wise saws and
modern instances,' until he believes himself possessed of the wisdom of
all the ages, and is incapable of conceiving of the existence even of an
original idea?"

"By-the-by," digressed Duganne, weary of discussion, "hear that old
fellow outside, how he is going on, Favraud, _a propos_ of poll parrots,
you know, as it all else, but the name of the bird, had been lost on his
ear. Just listen!"

"Yes, hear him, and he edified," was the sarcastic response of Favraud
to Duganne, who took no other notice, even if he understood the point,
than to lead the way to the portico, where swung the cage of the jolly
bird in question; and, headed by Madame Grambeau leaning on her cane, we
followed simultaneously, with the exception of Major Favraud, who
continued at the table with his cigar and cognac-flask, in sullen and
solitary state.

"Nutmegs and nullification!" shrieked the parrot, as we stood before
him. "Ha, ha, ha!"

"That is condensing the matter, certainly," I observed.

"_Bienvenu, compatriote_!" he repeated many times, laughing loudly, the
next moment, as if in mockery.

"What a fiend it is!" said Marion, timidly; "