"Let me see," apparently the old man did not notice the change in his companion's manner, "he has been away now about a year? It was in July he brought the Governor's daughter to the island one day and sailed the next!" Nanette made a movement. "How time flies!" he sighed. "Let us hope it assuages grief, as they say! You think she is contented here?" "The Lady Elise? Why not? At least, she seems so; has with her, her old nurse, my aunt, who fortunately escaped from the Mount--" "But the death of her father? It must have been a terrible blow--one not easy to forget!" "Of course," said Nanette slowly, "she has felt his loss." The old man gazed down. "I have sometimes wondered what she knows about the causes of the enmity that existed between his Excellency and the Black Seigneur?" The other's eyes lifted keenly. "When last did you see her, Father?" "She comes often to my cottage to walk and--" "Talk?" "Well, yes!" The fine spiritual face expressed a twinge of uneasiness. "About the past?" The priest shifted slightly. "Sometimes! An old man lives much in the past and it is natural to wander on a bit aimlessly at times, and--" "Confess, Father, she has learned much from you?" Nanette laughed. "No, no; I trust--" "Surmised, then!" said the girl. "She is one not easily deceived. Clever is my lady! And you talk, she says nothing, but leads you on! If there's aught she wishes to learn that you know, be assured she's found out from your lips." "Nay; I'll not believe--'tis true once or twice I've let a word slip. But she noticed not--" "No doubt!" The island girl's voice expressed a fine scorn. "However, it matters little. Speaks she ever of the Black Seigneur?" suddenly. "No. Why?" "Why not?" Nanette's tone was enigmatic. "I don't understand." "At any rate, she is better off here than yonder in France, if tidings be true," said the other irrelevantly. "Ah, _ma belle France_!" murmured the old man regretfully. "How she is torn within--threatened from without! But fortunately she has her defenders," his voice thrilled, "brave men who have thronged to her needs. I suppose," he continued abruptly, "it's to arrange about the new ship that brings the Seigneur once more to the island?" "I suppose so," assented the other briefly. "A true Frenchman, Pierre Laroche, your father, has shown himself, in giving one of his best ships to the cause! Although perhaps he would not have been so ready," thoughtfully, "had not the Paris Assembly seen fit to appoint André Desaurac in command of all the vessels to guard the coast against the intrigues of the French royalists with foreign powers and aliens! Well, well, he will find here many old friends!" "Yourself, for example, Father, who helped him in the courts to establish his right to his name," said the young woman quickly. "And you, Mistress Nanette," the kindly eyes lighting with a curious, indulgent look, "who went to the Mount alone, unaided, to--"