was light, his head laid slightly to one side, as if in pleased and
inquiring reverie, and there was a lifting of one corner of the mouth,
suggesting an amused disdain. Was it that disdain which comes from
conquest not important enough to satisfy ambition? The social conquest
of a village--to be conspicuous and attract the groundlings in this tiny
theatre of life, that seemed little!

Valmond appeared not to see the little coterie, but presently turned,
when just opposite the gate, and, raising his hat, half paused. Then,
without more ado, he opened the gate and advanced to the outstretched
hand of the Cure, who greeted him with a courtly affability. He shook
hands with, and nodded good-humouredly at, Medallion and the Little
Chemist, bowed to the avocat, and touched off his greeting to Monsieur De
la Riviere with deliberation, not offering his hand--this very reserve a
sign of equality not lost on the young Seigneur. He had not this
stranger at any particular advantage, as he had wished, he knew scarcely
why. Valmond took the seat offered him beside the Cure, who remarked
presently:

"My dear friend, Monsieur Garon, was saying just now that the spirit of
France has ever been the Captain of Freedom among the nations."

Valmond glanced quickly from the Cure to the others, a swift, inquisitive
look, then settled back in his chair, and turned, bowing, towards
Monsieur Garon. The avocat's pale face flushed, his long, thin fingers
twined round each other and untwined, and presently he said, in his
little chirping voice, so quaint as to be almost unreal:

"I was saying that the spirit of France lived always ahead of the time,
was ever first to conceive the feeling of the coming century, and by its