"That's because he hasn't used it lately; but in her ladyship's day--" "Her ladyship?" "The Governor's lady--he bought it for her. But she soon got tired of it--or perhaps didn't like the way the people looked at her!" roughly. "_Mon dieu!_ perhaps they did scowl a little--for it didn't please them, I can tell you!--the sight of all that gold squeezed from the taxes!" "Where is he going now?" "Nowhere himself--he never goes far from the Mount. But the Lady Elise, his daughter--some one in the village was saying she was going to Paris--" "Paris!" The lad repeated the word quickly. "What for?" "What do all the great lords and nobles send their children there for? To get educated--married, and--to learn the tricks of the court! Bah!" With a coarse laugh the man turned; stooping beneath his load, he moved grumblingly on. The boy, however, did not stir; as in a dream he looked first at the Mount, a dark triangle against the sky, then at the carriage. Nearer the latter drew, was about to dash by, when suddenly the driver, on his high seat, uttered an exclamation and at the same time tugged hard at the reins. The vehicle took a quick turn, lurched dangerously in its top-heavy pomp, and, almost upsetting, came to a standstill nearly opposite the boy. "Careless dog!" a shrill voice screamed from the inside. "What are you doing?" "The _lises_, your Excellency!" The driver's voice was thick; as he spoke he swayed uncertainly. "_Lises_--quicksands--" "There, your Excellency," indicating a gleaming place right in their path; a small bright spot that looked as if it might have been polished, while elsewhere on the surrounding sands tiny rippling parallels caressed the eye with streaks of black and silver. "I saw it in time!" "In time!" angrily. "Imbecile! Didn't you know it was there?" "Of course, your Excellency! Only I had misjudged a little, and--" The man's manner showed he was frightened. "Falsehoods! You have been drinking! Don't answer. You shall hear of this later. Drive around the spot." "Yes, your Excellency," was the now sober and subdued answer. Ere he obeyed, however, the carriage door, from which the Governor had been leaning, swung open. "Wait!" he called out impatiently, and tried to close it, but the catch--probably from long disuse--would not hold, and, before the liveried servant perched on the lofty carriage behind had fully perceived the fact and had recovered himself sufficiently to think of his duties, the boy on the beach had sprung forward. "Slam it!" commanded an irate voice. The lad complied, and as he did so, peered eagerly into the capacious depths of the vehicle. "The boy with the fish!" exclaimed at the same time a girlish treble within. "Eh?" my lord turned sharply. "An impudent lad who stopped the Lady Elise!" exclaimed the fat man--surely Beppo--on the front seat.