and Elise; let him go."

The mealman was soon lost to view, unheeding the challenge that rang
after him.

Lagroin had seen the fugitive from a distance, and came down,
inquiring. When he was told he swore that Duclosse should suffer divers
punishments.

"A pretty kind of officer!" he cried in a fury. "Damn it, is there
another man in my army would do it?"

No one answered; and because Lagroin was not a wise man, he failed to
see that in time his army might be entirely dissipated by such
awkward incidents. When Valmond was told, he listened with a better
understanding.

All that Lajeunesse had announced came to pass. The review and march and
show were goodly, after their kind; and, by dint of money and wine, the
enthusiasm was greater than ever it had been; for it was joined to the
pathos of the expected departure. The Cure and the avocat kept within
doors; for they had talked together, and now that the day of fate was at
hand, and sons, brothers, fathers, were to go off on this far crusade,
a new spirit suddenly thrust itself in, and made them sad and anxious.
Monsieur De la Riviere was gloomy. Medallion was the one comfortable,
cool person in the parish. It had been his conviction that something
would occur to stop the whole business at the critical moment. He was
a man of impressions, and he lived in the light of them continuously.
Wisdom might have been expected of Parpon, but he had been won by
Valmond from the start; and now, in the great hour, he was deep in
another theme--the restoration of his mother to himself, and to herself.

At seven o'clock in the evening, Valmond and Lagroin were in the
streets, after they had marched their men back to camp. A crowd had
gathered near the church, for His Excellency was on his way to visit the
Cure.

As he passed, they cheered him. He stopped to speak to them. Before he
had ended, some one came crying wildly that the soldiers, the red-coats
were come. The sound of a drum rolled up the street, and presently,
round a corner, came the well-ordered troops of the Government.

Instantly Lagroin wheeled to summon any stray men of his little army,
but Valmond laid a hand on his arm, stopping him. It would have been
the same in any case, for the people had scattered like sheep, and stood
apart.

They were close by the church steps. Valmond mechanically saw the
mealman, open-mouthed and dazed, start forward from the crowd; but,
hesitating, he drew back again almost instan