"Well, well; I will try, Seigneur Jean," replied the old man; "and depend upon one thing--no one shall injure your interests with my lord while old Jerome Laborde is in the house. No, no; I will take care of them." "Oh, I know I leave them in good hands," I replied; and ere we could say more, the groom appeared to tell me that the horses were waiting. After receiving an affectionate embrace from the good old major-domo, I ran down into the court, and sprang upon my horse, without any further leave-taking, as I was not supposed to know that Monsieur de Villardin had yet risen. CHAPTER XV. Although I loved Monsieur de Villardin sincerely, and left my interest in his heart in a very precarious state, yet I acknowledge that I was delighted to ride away from the Prés Vallée. Ever since the death of Monsieur de Mesnil, a gloom had fallen over the place, of which I could not divest it for a moment. These sensations would probably have worn away in a few days, although I began to think more seriously about human life than I formerly did, had not Monsieur de Villardin seemed to feel so deeply upon the subject himself. His regret and melancholy were a constant excitement to my own; and though, of course, the feelings that I experienced were far less poignant than his, and no other internal torment was added to the awful memories which oppressed me, yet the cloud that overcast his days shadowed mine also; and the sight of all the little traits which revealed how painfully he remembered the death of the Count, constantly recalled to my mind the share that I also had taken therein. Besides this, my mind was fretted and annoyed at beholding continually the anxieties, suspicions, and cares, to which Monsieur de Villardin made himself a prey; the destruction of an amiable woman's happiness, and the misery of a man I loved. I have said fretted and annoyed, because latterly a degree of impatience, which sometimes almost mastered my respect, had mingled with the grief that the sight of such a state of things had first occasioned in my bosom. From all these causes, my feelings, instead of being painful, were joyful in a high degree, on quitting the scenes which, a few months before, had appeared to me so beautiful and peaceful that I had fancied I could dwell in them for ever; and each mile as I rode on seemed to take more and more of the load from off my heart.