Then, breaking
off: "Madame Chalice is coming back to-day; the Manor House is open, and
you should see how they fly round up there." He nodded towards the hill
beyond.
"Pontiac'll be a fine place by and by," she said, for she had village
patriotism deep in her veins. Had not her people lived there long before
the conquest by the English?
"But tell me, tell me what your song had to do with Monsieur," she urged
again. "It's a pretty song, but--"
"Think about it," he answered provokingly. "Adieu, my child!" he went on
mockingly, using Valmond's words, and catching both her hands as he had
done; then, springing upon a bench by the oven, he kissed her on both
cheeks. "Adieu, my child!" he said again, and, jumping down, trotted away
out into the road. Back to her, from the dust he made as he shuffled
away, there came the words:
"Gold and silver he will bring,
Vive le roi, la reine!
And eke the daughter of a king
Vive Napoleon!"
She went about her work, the song in her ears, and the words of the
refrain beat in and out, out and in:
"Vive Napoleon." Her brow was troubled, and she perched her head on this
side and on that, as she tried to guess what the dwarf had meant.
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