"Call me Petit-Pierre, or do not call me anything; that is the only way to avoid embarrassment. So it is to a conversion that I owe the honor of having you for my knight?" "An easy conversion! At my age opinions are not convictions; they are only sentiments." "You are indeed very young," said Petit-Pierre, looking at her guide. "I am nearly twenty-one." Petit-Pierre gave a sigh. "That is the fine age," she said, "for love or war." The young man heaved a deep sigh, and Petit-Pierre, who heard it, smiled imperceptibly. "Ah!" she said; "there's a sigh which tells me many things about the conversion we were speaking of just now. I will wager that a pretty pair of eyes knows something about it, and that if the soldiers of Louis-Philippe were to search you at this moment they would find a scarf that is dearer to you for the hands that embroidered it than for the principles of which its color is the emblem." "I assure you, Madame," stammered Michel, "that is not the cause of my determination." "Come, come, don't defend yourself; all that is true chivalry, Monsieur Michel. We must never forget, whether we descend from them or whether we seek to emulate them, that the knights of old placed women next to God and on the level of kings, combining all three in one device. Do not be ashamed of loving! Why, that is your greatest claim to my sympathy! _Ventre-saint-gris!_ as Henri IV. would have said; with an army of twenty thousand lovers I could conquer not only all France, but the world! Come, tell me the name of your lady, Monsieur le Baron de la Logerie." "Oh!" exclaimed Michel, deeply shocked. "Ah! I see you are discreet, young man. I congratulate you; it is a quality all the more precious because in these days it is so rare. But never mind; to a travelling-companion we tell all, charging him to keep our secret inviolably. Come, shall I help you? I will wager that we are now going toward the lady of our thoughts." "You are right there." "And I will further wager that she is neither more nor less than one of those charming amazons at Souday." "Good heavens! who could have told you?" "Well, I congratulate you again, my young friend. Wolves as I am told some persons call them, I know they have brave and noble hearts, capable of bestowing happiness on the husbands they select. Are you rich, Monsieur de la Logerie?" "Alas, yes!" replied Michel. "So much the better, and not alas at all! You can enrich your wife, and that seems to me a great happiness. In all cases, in all loves, there are certain little difficulties to overcome, and if Petit-Pierre can help you at any time you have only to call upon him; he will be most happy to recognize in that way the services you have been good enough to render him. But, if I'm not mistaken, here comes some one toward us. Listen; don't you hear a tread?" The steps of a man now became distinctly audible. They were still at some distance, but were coming nearer.