"Not Latin and not Greek," interrupted Margot. "My good uncle, the holiest man in the world, teaches me those languages." "There is a school where I will send thee, _petite_. There thou shalt acquire the French in all its perfection, and thou shalt learn the dancing. Ah! bravo! everything shall be as it should he. Thou must prepare for an excellent marriage, _ma chère petite_ Comtesse." "What is a marriage?" asked Margot. "It is--ah, but thou must not know yet. Digest well my counsels. I shall pray to _le bon Dieu_ for the success of _votre mari_, that is to be. M'sieur, you are a _religieux_?" "He is a holy man," said Margot. "_Ah, oui, oui, mon enfant_--I know all that, but, nevertheless, I am _tout à fait Français_ and I love the French the best of all people in the world." "And I love the English and the Irish," said Margot. "Ah well, wait a while, _ma pauvre chérie_. Thou wilt soon see for thyself. When the marriage time comes on--then will happen the rejoicing, and I can dress thee, ah well! I have thy little garments already arranged, but the _avocat_ is waiting. The _dot_ must be settled once and for all on this brilliant _petite_ Comtesse, and then M'sieur, you will tell those good people in Ireland and your own sacred household what good has befallen _la petite_." "I like it not at all," said Margot to herself. She stood looking disconsolately out of one of the windows and remembered The Desmond and the old place gone to rack and ruin, and hated the idea of being left alone with grand'mère and grandpère of the French nation. "It troubles me," she thought, "why did I ever leave my little home with my beloved Jacko?" CHAPTER VIII. BROWN HATS AND FANS. It is one of the astonishing and also one of the blessed things of life that children of the age of Marguerite St. Juste quickly accommodate themselves to circumstances. She was naturally a very brave little girl, and she had a heart warmer than most, but there was a quiet determination about her, that same determination which had won her way into all the hearts of the good folks at Desmondstown, and this she brought now to her aid.