"And now, Olivier, if you will give me your arm, we will leave these young ladies," said the veteran. "M. Olivier, it will not do at all for Commander Bernard to return home on foot, weak as he is. You had better tell our portress to call a cab for you." "No, no, my dear young lady, with Olivier's assistance I shall get along nicely. The fresh air will do me a world of good, and then I can show Olivier the place where I should have been killed but for this guardian angel here. I am not much of a devotee, mademoiselle, but I shall often make a sort of pilgrimage to that grassy slope to pray after my fashion for the noble-hearted girl who saved me at a time I was so anxious to live, for this very morning--" And then, for the second time, to Olivier's great surprise, the veteran seemed to check words which were almost upon his lips. "Oh, well, never mind," he continued, "I shall pray after my fashion for my guardian angel, for really," added the veteran, smilingly, "the world seems to be upside down, for now it is young girls who save old soldiers,--but fortunately the old soldiers have heart enough left for gratitude and devotion." Olivier, with his eyes riveted on Mlle. de Beaumesnil's sad and gentle face, was experiencing a feeling of compassionate tenderness which was full of charm. His heart throbbed with conflicting emotions as he gazed at the young girl, and recalled the incidents of his first meeting with her, her ingenuous frankness and quaint originality, and, above all, Herminie's intimation that her friend's lot was far from being a happy one. Olivier had long been an ardent admirer of Herminie's rare beauty, but at this moment Ernestine seemed equally attractive in his eyes. The young soldier was so absorbed that his uncle was obliged to take him by the arm and say to him: "Come, my boy, we must no longer trespass on the hospitality which Mlle. Herminie will surely pardon me for having accepted." "The fact is, Herminie," said Ernestine, "knowing you lived only a short distance from the scene of the accident, I thought I might venture--" "Surely you are not going to apologise for having acted as any friend would have done?" the duchess exclaimed, interrupting her. "We will bid you adieu, young ladies," said the old naval officer, then, turning to Ernestine, he said earnestly: "It would grieve me too much to think that I had seen you to-day for the first and last time. Oh, have no fears, mademoiselle," exclaimed the old man, noting a slight expression of embarrassment on the girl's tell-tale face, "my gratitude gives me no excuse for intruding myself upon you, but I should consider it a great favour if you and Mlle. Herminie would occasionally permit me to call and see you,--for it is not enough to have a heart full of gratitude, one should at least be allowed to sometimes give expression to it."