"I will go and tell her so, Monsieur le Préfet," said Angelot.
"Do, my friend."
His eyes, anxious and thoughtful, followed the young man as he walked across towards the distant edge of the wood, whose dark shadows opened behind Riette and the crocuses. She looked up, startled, as her cousin came near, and for a moment seemed to think of disappearing into the wood; but a sign from him reassured her, and she came with a dancing step to meet him.
"I have been rousing curiosity, Monsieur le Préfet," said the General, smiling grimly, as the Prefect rejoined the other men. "I have been telling Monsieur de la Marinière that one of these days you will report his daughter to the Emperor."
The Prefect looked angry and annoyed. His handsome face flushed. With an involuntary movement he laid his hand on Monsieur Joseph's shoulder; their eyes met, and both men smiled.
"I sometimes think," said Monsieur de Mauves, "that His Majesty does not yet quite know France. His ideas have great spirit and originality, but they are not always very practical."
"They are generally put into practice," growled the General.
"Yes—but I do not think this one will go far. Certainly, it will have died out long before Mademoiselle de la Marinière is grown up."
"But explain, my dear friend!" cried Monsieur Joseph. "Is the Emperor going to raise a regiment of Amazons, to fight Russia? I am dying with curiosity."
"Some people would find your idea less disagreeable than the fact," said the Prefect, smiling, while the General shook with laughter.