"Has your cousin been playing a game?" Bertha asked. "Because the Bouveries talk of him and think of him as an indolent dreamy fool, a good farmer, but with no love for his old house, and with no intention of saving it. I should call him a masterful, keen-witted man, who would let nobody get the better of him in business matters!" "Yes," said Adrienne; "that is him. And I rely upon him to return in time to circumvent the Bouveries. I am not going to make myself miserable before it is necessary. Let us enjoy these lovely days, Bertha." "My dear, I must be off to-morrow. But I shall be at Le Sourge for a week or two yet. I have to pack up too. We shall see each other, I hope, several times before you leave." The rest of the evening passed quietly. The Countess talked much of Orleans and of her flat, and from hints she let drop, and from a little confidence on Bertha's part, Adrienne was made aware that her aunt intended to make a match for her with a certain young Baron in Orleans. CHAPTER XIII WHY THE COUNT WENT AWAY THE days that followed were like a calm before a storm. Adrienne went to see her village friends. They all told her how glad they were to see her back. Strangely enough, with all their love of gossip they none of them referred to what was well known in the village, the transfer of the Château to Monsieur Bouverie. One or two of them asked Adrienne a little anxiously: "And when will the Comte be back?" She only shook her head. "We don't know. It is uncertain." She paid little Agatha a visit very soon. The sick girl took hold of her hands in her earnest, demonstrative way: "Ah, dear Mademoiselle, how we have missed you! And you have been through sorrow. But you are learning Who can comfort." "How do you know I am, Agatha?" "By your eyes. They are not only joyously happy, that they have always been, but a deep contented rest has crept into your soul, and it shows itself." "Yes, Agatha," said Adrienne in a low voice, "I have I think, very feebly linked myself on to the One you know and love." "Or shall we say He has very strongly linked you on Himself," said Agatha with her serene smile. "Yes, that is better. That is what He has done. He has drawn me to His Feet and forgiven me there, and made me one of His sheep." "And you have only to hear His Voice and follow now—Mademoiselle, I rejoice so much in your joy." "It has come so gradually," said Adrienne; "I can't tell you when or how, only after many prayers I have stopped doubting, and now am trusting. Oh, Agatha, if only—only my Aunt could realize it, how happy she might be!" "Give to her, as you have been given to," said Agatha; "it is so easy to enter the Kingdom, if you'll take the Bon Seigneur at His Word." Adrienne came away from her feeling in tune with the whole world; she was serenely conscious of a new joy and a new purpose in her life. Her aunt sighed as she heard her singing about the Château. "Ah, if only I were young and gay again!"