earnest or very gay--"I tell you frankly, when we both received an offer
to buy, I thought there must be some reason why the places are worth
buying, but I have found none."

He paused, and, looking round, remembered that this also was his, and did
not belong to Denise at all, who claimed it, and held it with such a high
hand.

"As Corsica at present stands, Perucca and Vasselot are valueless,
mademoiselle, I claim the honour of being in the same boat with you. And
if the empire falls--_bonjour la paix!_"

And he sketched a grand upheaval with a wave of his two hands in the air.

"But why should the empire fall?" asked Denise, sharply.

"Ah, but I have the head of a sparrow!" cried Lory, and he smote himself
grievously on the forehead. "I forgot to tell you the very thing that I
came to tell you. Which is odd, for until I came into this garden I could
think of nothing else. I was ready to shout it to the trees. War has been
declared, mademoiselle."

"War!" said Denise; and she drew in one whistling breath through her
teeth, as one may who has been burnt by contact with heated metal, and
sat looking straight in front of her. "When do you go, Monsieur le
Comte?" she asked, in a steady voice, after a moment.

"To-night."

He rose, and stood before her, looking at the tangled garden with a