"'Parbleu!' said he, 'this good woman certainly is in league with the rabbits at Savernay. What do you say to it, Clement: would you like to go home and lose the sport?'
"'Uncle,' I replied, 'I would rather go on with you.'
"'You look pale and odd—are you afraid?'
"'I am not afraid,' said I.
"I lied, for I felt a certain shudder pass through me, which was very like fear.
"My father has since owned to me, that if it had not been for my uncle's words, which caused a certain false shame in him, he would have sent me home or given my horse to one of the servants; but what an example for a boy of my age, who declared himself to have no fear, and what a subject for ridicule to my uncle.
"I continued, then, to ride my pony; we reached the warren, and the chase commenced.
"While it lasted, the pleasures made us forget the prediction; but the chase over, and having started on our road home—
"'Well, Clement,' said my uncle, 'still on your pony; you are a brave boy.'
"My father and I both laughed; we were then crossing a plain as flat and even as this room—no obstacles in the way, nothing that could frighten a horse, yet at that moment my pony gave a bound which shook me from my seat, then he reared violently, and threw me off; my uncle laughed, but my father became as pale as death. I did not move, and my father leaped from his horse and came to me, and found that my leg was broken.