found I could not. Then she said, "Wait here; I'll run on a little, and
find where Gabrielle is."

I would have stayed her, but she was gone. La Croissette said, "You seem
in trouble; what is it?"

I said, "Don't you know the dragoons are in Nismes? They have tried to
burn my mother, have bound and beaten my father, destroyed our property,
and cudgelled and burnt me till I cannot stand."

He drew in his breath, and said, "Any one of those things is trouble
enough. Is that pretty girl your sister?"

"No; my affianced wife."

"And you have taken to Les Arènes for safety, and left your father and
mother behind?"

"Not willingly, you may be sure. My mother and Madeleine half carried me
hither. Then we saw my father's silk factory in flames, and she ran to
find him."

Madeleine here returned, and said, encouragingly, "I have found where
they are; it is a very little way, and they look so comfortable!"

With her help and La Croissette's I dragged myself along, and though it
seemed a long way off, we got there at last; and very snug did the old
vault look, with the little brazier and the lamp, and the curtain to
keep off the draught, and food and bedding on the floor. I sank down on
the straw they had prepared for me, and never was couch of down more