At the thought that this holiday might turn into a day of mourning for my family I suppressed a sigh, and answered my wife's sister with a smile that was intended to allay suspicion. "Victoria and her son charged me yesterday with some military orders for the chief of a detachment that lies encamped some two leagues from here. It is the military custom to be armed when one has such orders in charge." "Do you know, Schanvoch, that you must arouse jealousy in many a breast?" "Because my foster-sister employs my soldier's sword during war and my pen during truces?" "You forget to say that that foster-sister is Victoria the Great, and that Victorin, her son, entertains for you the respect that he would have for his mother's brother. Hardly a day goes by without Victoria's calling upon you. These are favors that many should envy." "Have I ever sought to profit by these favors, Sampso? Have I not remained a simple horseman, ever declining to be an officer, and requesting the only favor of fighting at Victorin's side?" "Whose life you have already twice saved when he was at the point of perishing under the blows of those barbarous Franks!" "I did but my duty as a soldier and a Gaul. Should I not sacrifice my life to that of a man who is so necessary to our country?" "Schanvoch, we must not quarrel; you know how much I admire Victoria; but--" "But I know your uncharitableness towards her son," I put in with a smile, "you austere and severe Sampso!" "Is it any fault of mine if disorderly conduct finds no favor in my eyes--if I even consider it disgraceful?" "Certes, you are right. Nevertheless I can not avoid being somewhat indulgent towards the foibles of Victorin. A widower at twenty, should he not be excused for yielding at times to the impulses of his age? Dear but implacable Sampso, I let you read the narrative of my ancestress Genevieve. You are gentle and good as Jesus of Nazareth, why do you not imitate his charity towards sinners? He forgave Magdalen because she had loved much. In the name of the same sentiment pardon Victorin!" "There is nothing more worthy of forgiveness than love, when it is sincere. But debauchery has nothing in common with love. Schanvoch, it is as if you were to say to me that my sister and I could be compared with those Bohemian girls who recently arrived in Mayence." "In point of looks they might be compared with you or Ellen, seeing that they are said to be ravishingly beautiful. But the comparison ends there, Sampso. I trust but little the virtue of those strollers, however charming, however brilliantly arrayed they may be, who travel from town to town singing and dancing for public amusement--even if they indulge not in worse practices."