"We shall have nothing to fight about if the man has lied to us both. But I wouldn't care to be in _his_ skin. Come along, my man." "I am not your man," said Marsac, furiously angry. "Well--stranger, then. One can hardly say friend," in a dignified fashion that checked Marsac. Pani caught the child. Pierre was on the other side of her. "What was it?" he asked. How good his stolid, rugged face looked! "A quarrel about the boat. Run and see how they settle it, Pierre." "But you and Marie--and it is getting dark." "Run, run! We are not afraid." She stamped her foot and Pierre obeyed. Marie clung to her. People jostled them, but they made their way through the narrow, crowded street. The bells were ringing, more from long habit now. Soldiers in uniform were everywhere, some as guards, caring for the noisier ones. Madame De Ber was leaning over her half door, and gave a cry of joy. "Where hast thou been all day, and where is Pierre, my son?" she demanded. The three tried to explain at once. They had had a lovely day, and Madame Ganeau, with her daughter and promised son-in-law, were along in the sail down the river. And Pierre had gone to see the result of a dispute-- "I sent him," cried Jeanne, frankly. "Oh, here he comes," as Pierre ran up breathless. "O my son, thou art safe--" "It was no quarrel of mine," said Pierre, "and if it had been I have two good fists and a foot that can kick. It was that Jogue who hired his boat twice over and pretended to forget. But he gave back the money. He had told a lie, however, for he said Marsac took the canoe without his knowledge, and then he declared he had been so mixed up--I think he was half drunk--that he could not remember. They were going to hand him over to the guard, but he begged so piteously they let him off. Then he and Louis Marsac took another drink." Jeanne suddenly snatched up her skirt and scrubbed her mouth vigorously. "It has been a tiresome day," exclaimed Pani, "and thou must have a mouthful of supper, little one, and go to bed." She put her arm over the child's shoulder, with a caress; and Jeanne pressed her rosy cheek on the hand. "I do not want any supper but I will go to bed at once," she replied in a weary tone. "It is said that at the eastward in the Colonies they keep just such a July day with flags and confusion and cannon firing and bells ringing. One such day in a lifetime is enough for me," declared Madame De Ber. They kept the Fourth of July ever afterward, but this was really their national birthday. Jeanne scrubbed her mouth again before she said her little prayer and in five minutes she was soundly asleep. But the man who had kissed her and who had been her childhood's friend staggered homeward after a roistering evening, never losing sight of the blow she had struck him.