Anne-Hilarion considered this supposition about M. le Chevalier. Having no definite standard of wealth except the seldom seen contents of his own money-box, he only knew that M. de Soucy and the Abbé and the rest were poor because he had heard Mr. Elphinstone and his father say so. He had never seriously weighed M. le Chevalier's financial condition, yet, remembering now that on several occasions M. de la Vireville had contributed to the money-box in question, he was inclined to dispute this judgment. "I do not know about M. le Chevalier," he said at length. "You see, he does not live in London; he is only there sometimes. It is more interesting for him, because he is a great deal in Brittany, and he fights, and goes to Jersey. He is going there soon. That is more amusing than teaching French like M. l'Abbé, or music, which I think is what M. le Vicomte teaches." "Much more amusing," agreed Mme. de Chaulnes. "Why then does not M. le Vicomte do something of the same sort as M. le Chevalier? If I were a man, Anne, instead of an old woman, I am sure I should set off to Brittany to fight for the little King." "I think the reason why M. de Soucy does not go to fight is because he is lame. It is a pity. It is from a wound." "Then he might do the same sort of thing as your Papa," suggested Mlle. de Chaulnes, "and go abroad to see the Princes, and so on." "Indeed," said Anne rather wistfully, "I wish M. le Vicomte could have gone to Verona instead of Papa. But they all wanted Papa to go." "They had a meeting to settle it, of course," said Mme. de Chaulnes, as one stating a fact rather than asking a question. "Yes," said Anne, nodding. "In our house." "Your Papa told you all about it afterwards, I suppose?" "No," replied the Comte de Flavigny sedately; "I was there." "You, child!" exclaimed Mme. de Chaulnes incredulously. "Nonsense!" "But yes!" persisted Anne, wriggling on his chair. "You see, it was in the dining-room, and I got out of bed and went down, because I thought they were going to Noroway-over-the-foam, as it says in the poem, and M. le Chevalier wrapped me up in the tablecloth and took me on his knee, and I heard all about it. Elspeth was dreadfully angry next morning," he concluded. "I don't wonder!" was Mme. de Chaulnes' comment. "Fancy a boy of your age up at that time of night. You know, Anne," she went on seriously, "you must be careful how you talk about what you heard at that meeting--if you were really awake and heard anything. You must not speak of such things except to your father's friends. But I expect you know that, my child, don't you?" Anne-Hilarion had flushed up. "But yes, Madame," he replied earnestly. "Papa has told me that often, not to be a chatterbox. But I did not really understand what they were talking about, except that Papa was to go to see the Regent--I do not know why--and that there was soon to be an expedition to France."