Man of the Iron Mask 263 Versailles 267 Little Trianon 268 The Dauphin with the Royal Family in the Assembly 269 Forest of Fontainebleau 273 In the Wood at Fontainebleau 274 "Je ne comprends pas" 277 At Prayers 278 Clock Tower at Vire 283 Revoking the Edict of Nantes 291 Fénelon and the Duke of Burgundy 295 The Cathedral at Nantes 298 Louis XV. 299 Molière 306 The Reading of "Paul and Virginia" 307 Racine 309 Racine Reading to Louis XIV. 310 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS; OR, VACATIONS IN HISTORIC LANDS. [Illustration: {STATUE OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR AT FALAISE.}] [Illustration: IT IS VACATION.] CHAPTER I. THE JOURNEY PROPOSED. "The school--is--dismissed." The words fell hesitatingly, and it seemed to us regretfully, from the tutor's lips. The dismission was for the spring vacation. It was at the close of a mild March day; there was a peculiar warmth in the blue sky and cloudless sunset; the south winds lightly stirred the pines, and through the open window wandered into the school-room. "Dismissed!" Usually at this word, on the last day of the term, every boy leaped to his feet: there would be a brief bustle, then Master Lewis would be seen seated alone amid the silence of the school-room. But to-day there was something in the tone of the master's voice that checked the usual unseemly haste. Every boy remained in his seat, as though waiting for Master Lewis to say something more. The master saw it, and choked with feeling. It was a little thing, the seeming unwillingness to part; but it indicated to both teacher and school an increasing respect and affection. Master Lewis had learned to love his pupils: his hesitating words told _them_ that. Every boy in his school loved Master Lewis: their conduct in remaining in their seats told _him_ that. The master stepped from his desk, as was his custom when about to say any thing unusually social and confidential. "Boys," he said, "I wish to tell you frankly, and you deserve to know it, that I have become so attached to you during the winter term that I am sorry to part from you, even for a week's vacation." "I wish we might pass the vacation together," said Frank Gray,--meaning by "we" the teacher and the school.