'Madeleine!' exclaimed Nicholas, standing still and looking round; 'I really do not know where she is. But it does not matter; let us go into the gardens of the Tuileries. It was her wish, you may remember, that we should go there after our visit to the Palais Royal, and doubtless she will make the best of her way there in the expectation of meeting with us.' They entered the beautiful gardens before the palace, and Gabrielle would have admired the flowers at any other time, but her nerves had been somewhat shaken by the excitement she had gone through, and she asked Nicholas to let her sit down on the first seat they came to. 'I am so frightened, Monsieur Nicholas,' said she; 'I fear something must have happened to Madeleine; I heard the people crying out that some one was killed.' 'That was a man,' said the young man. 'I saw the horses tread him down, it made me turn sick and giddy. The hoof of one horse cut open his head just behind the ear, and the skull must have been crushed, for the brain burst out as the horse trod his head down. Did you see nothing of that?' 'No, no; I am thankful I did not.' 'I am rather taller than most of these French fellows; and as the man fell there was a lane formed between the heads, and I saw it all.' 'When do you think Madeleine will be here?' 'I really cannot guess, but I hope before long.' 'And you are certain no harm has befallen her?' 'Harm befall Madeleine!' exclaimed Nicholas; 'that is an impossibility. You never saw such a girl as that is for keeping out of danger herself, though she will go into the midst of what is perilous to other people.' 'Oh,' sighed Gabrielle, 'how I wish that I were out of Paris, and back in peaceful Bernay. And yet that cannot be.' 'I cannot say that I wish it,' said Nicholas, simply. 'But why not?' asked Gabrielle with equal simplicity. Nicholas looked at her, with his great blue eyes wide open, and nodded. 'There!' said he, pointing to one of the flowers in a garden-bed before them, 'that plant grows wild in my country.' 'Is your country very quiet; or have you such troubles as we have here?' 'Oh no! Switzerland is perfectly peaceful; ever since the great Werner Stauffacher, Erni of Melchthal, and Walter Fürst, formed their league against the tyrants who held the people in chains, we have been free, and happy, and tranquil.' 'Then you had great troubles once?' 'Yes, there was the terrible struggle for freedom.' 'Perhaps the troubles here are part of our struggle.' 'No doubt; and then, when the bonds are burst, and despotism is at an end, you will have peace.' 'Oh, Monsieur Nicholas! how I wish that time had come!' 'No doubt.' 'And is your country more beautiful than my Normandy?' 'Oh, ten thousand times more beautiful.' 'But you have not seen Normandy.' 'No, but I know enough,' he nodded towards her, 'to be well assured that if you were given the choice between Switzerland and Normandy you would say, Switzerland for ever! You have no lakes.'