"On the afternoon of that same day, Madame de la Rochaigue insisted upon my driving with her and one of her friends, Madame la Duchesse de Senneterre, a lady I had never met before. We went to the Bois. There were a great many people there, and as our carriage was moving along at a snail's pace, Madame de la Rochaigue remarked to her friend: "'Isn't that your son I see on horseback over there, my dear duchess?' "'Yes, I believe it is Gerald,' replied Madame de Senneterre, turning her lorgnette in the direction indicated. "'I hope he will see us, and come and speak to us,' added Madame de Mirecourt, who was also with us. "'Oh, M. de Senneterre will not fail to do that, as the duchess fortunately is with us,' replied Madame de la Rochaigue. 'I say fortunately, but that is not exactly the word, as that lady's presence prevents us from saying all we would like to say in M. Gerald's praise.' "'Oh, as for that, I warn you I haven't a bit of maternal modesty,' answered Madame de Senneterre, smiling. 'I never hear half enough nice things said about my son.' "'However exacting you may be, you ought to be very well satisfied on that score, it seems to me, my dear duchess,' replied Madame de Mirecourt. "'But speaking of M. de Senneterre, did you ever hear why he enlisted as a common soldier, at the age of eighteen?' continued Madame de Mirecourt, addressing Madame de la Rochaigue. "'No,' replied that lady, 'I have heard that, beginning as a common soldier, in spite of his birth, he gained his several promotions, as well as his cross, on the battlefield, at the cost of several wounds; but I never heard why he enlisted.' "'Madame la duchesse,' said Madame de Mirecourt, turning to Madame de Senneterre, 'is it not true that your son enlisted because he thought it cowardly to hire a man to go and be killed in his stead?' "'Yes, that is true,' replied Madame de Senneterre; 'that is the reason my son gave us, and he carried out his resolution in spite of my tears and entreaties.' "'Superb!' exclaimed Madame de la Rochaigue. 'Nobody in the world but M. de Senneterre would ever have made and carried out such a chivalrous resolution as that.' "'It is easy to judge of the generosity of his character from that fact alone,' added Madame de Mirecourt. "'Oh, I can say with just pride that there is no better son in the world than my Gerald,' remarked Madame de Senneterre. "'And when one says that, one says everything,' added Madame de la Rochaigue. "I listened in silence to this conversation, naturally sharing in the admiration that M. de Senneterre's generous act excited in those around me. "A few minutes afterwards, a party of young men passed us on horseback. One of them, I noticed, paused on seeing us, wheeled his horse around and came back.