“What is he wearing that thing for?” she inquired.
This time indignation got the upperhand in the peasant.
“I am wearing helmet and sabre,” he retorted proudly, “because I have been fighting and have killed Swiss and dragoons: and if you doubt me, Miss Catherine, you can ask your father, and that is all.”
She was so absent-minded that she appeared to catch the latter part of the speech alone.
“How is my father?” asked she; “and why does he not return home with you? Is the news from Paris bad?”
“Very,” replied the young man.
“I thought that all was settled,” the girl objected.
“Quite true, but all is unsettled again.”
“Have not the King and the people agreed and is not the recall of Minister Necker arranged?”
“Necker is not of much consequence now,” said Pitou jeeringly.