"And you, colonel, shall be our protector," added Mademoiselle Brun, with
one of her straight looks.

The colonel laughed, shrugged his shoulders, and accompanied them to the
carriage which awaited them.

"If one only knew whether you approve or disapprove of these hair-brained
proceedings," he took an opportunity of saying to Mademoiselle Brun, when
Denise was out of earshot.

"If I only knew myself," she replied coldly.

They climbed into the high, old-fashioned carriage, and drove through the
new Boulevard du Palais, upward to the hills above the town. And if they
observed the small crosses on either side of the road, marking the spot
where some poor wight had come to what is here called an accidental
death, they took care to make no mention of it. For Denise persisted in
seeing everything in that rose light which illumines the world when we
are young. She had even a good word to say for the _Perseverance_, which
vessel had assuredly need of such, and said that the captain was a good
French sailor, despite his grimy face.

"This," she cried, "is better than your stuffy schoolroom!"

And she stood up in the carriage to inhale the breeze that hummed through
the macquis from the cool mountain-tops. There is no air like that which
comes as through a filter made of a hundred scented trees--a subtle
mingling of their clean woody odours.

"Look!" she added, pointing down to the sea, which looked calm from this