That which pleased me more than anything else in the whole scene was, to observe that, while in actual exertion and activity, the deep heavy gloom which had overshadowed the countenance of the Duke ever since the death of his wife, passed away, and for the time he was himself again. This change only lasted for the time, it is true, and the moment he turned from the esplanade, the cloud was as dark and stern as ever. Indeed, this observation may apply to the whole of the rest of his life. In the field I have often seen him cheerful, and even gay; but the moment that the temporary stimulus was withdrawn, he would fall back into a deep and bitter melancholy, which I never saw enlivened even by a smile. Generally after supper he retired to a solitary chamber, and there remained alone for several hours. At first, I fancied that he occupied himself in reading, for which he always had a strong taste; but being obliged, on more than one occasion, in the course of the civil strife that ensued, to break in upon his retirement, I almost always found him immersed in deep thought, with his cheek resting on his hand; and never saw a book near him during those hours of the night that he thus passed alone. On our return from the esplanade, which did not take place till a late hour of the evening, we found Father Ferdinand walking in the flower-garden with Mademoiselle de Villardin, and smiling upon all her young and graceful sports with that bland expression of reflected enjoyment which sits so well upon the lip of age. As soon as the little Laura beheld me, she sprang up as usual to my neck, and, making a sort of seat of my arm, scolded me with childish vehemence for my long absence. "He will be absent from you still longer, my sweet child," said Monsieur de Villardin, kissing her cheek; "and therefore you must remember to keep far from the water, as there will be no one there to save you. Do you know, my good father," he added, turning to the Priest, "that child would soon make me a very coward? The only thing I fear, in going to do what I conceive my duty, is, that I may never see her again." He waited for no reply, but turned into the house, and we followed. After supper, Father Ferdinand and myself were left alone, and I now learned more of the arrangements which Monsieur de Villardin had found it necessary to make, than he had himself communicated. As Brittany was in general loyal, and the governor most decidedly attached to the Court, against which the Duke was now in arms, he had determined upon sending his whole household with Mademoiselle de Villardin, and everything easily moveable, both from the Prés Vallée and from Dumont, to the estates of his late wife at Virmont in the Orleanois, where his daughter, being in the immediate neighbourhood of her grand-uncle, Monsieur de Loris, would, he fancied, be much more safe than in Brittany.