"I think Arnaut has suggested that the baby should be sent away, but Mathilde objects," remarked the old baroness. "Send it away without asking her, then. Give her a pug instead; it will be much more amusing, and not half the trouble the baby is," said Leon. Here the servant returned to say madame would take her _dejeuner_ in the nursery, as the nurse was out and she could not leave the baby. "Really, Mathilde is too absurd, when there are at least three or four other servants in the house who could look after the baby as well as the nurse," said the old baroness, helping herself to some omelette. "She is mad," muttered the baron, angrily. "Quite, all women are; there can be no doubt about that. Look here, Arnaut, it is quite clear if you don't send that infant away, you might just as well live _en garcon_, like me, as I foresee you won't have much of Mathilde's society now," said Leon. "It does not require much foresight to predict that," said the baron, bitterly. "Well, if Mathilde won't send it away, just hand it over to me the next time I take a cruise, which will be as soon as ever there is wind enough to fill my sails, and I'll place the child somewhere where there is no fear of Mathilde getting it again till it is of a reasonable age," said Leon. The idea of handing the baby over to the tender mercies of Leon struck them all as so comic that a general laugh, in which all but the baron joined, greeted this speech, which was forgotten as soon as it was uttered by the speaker. A few days after Leon announced that he was going on board his yacht that evening; a south wind was blowing, and he should take a cruise up the Channel. Would the baron go with him? They were sure to have fine weather, and it would be delightful at sea in this heat. The baron declined the invitation, as he was a wretched sailor; but that evening, when he and Leon were smoking after dinner, he said, suddenly, "Where are you going, Leon?" "I don't know; it depends on the wind. I may run over to England, or I may only go to the Channel Isles. I shall see." "Shall you touch anywhere?" "Oh, yes, I shall go ashore; I shan't take provisions for more than a week. Why?" The baron looked round the verandah in which they were sitting to make sure that they were alone, and having satisfied himself of this he leant forward and said, in a half-whisper, "Tiens, Leon! Will you help me? I am determined to stand it no longer; it is wearing my life out; I have not a moment's peace. If I don't get rid of it I believe I shall go mad." "What is it you are talking of? I'll help you if I can, but what is wearing your life out?" said Leon. [Illustration: THE BARONESS.] "The baby, of course," said the baron. "The baby! Well, but what do you want me to do with that! I can't kill it, you know."