Hullin was proud and happy as a prince.
"How she makes them mind!" he chuckled. "What a little dragoon she is! a very puss-in-boots! Ha, ha, ha!"
And he waited full five minutes before entering."
Louise flung down the spoon she held, and rushed to him, crying:
"Father Jean-Claude! papa Jean-Claude! You are not hurt? you are not wounded?"
Poor Hullin could not speak for a moment. He folded her tenderly in his arms, and at length replied, in a voice whose tremor he could not repress:
"No, Louise, no; I am well and happy."
" Sit down, Jean-Claude," said the Anabaptist, seeing how his emotion affected him. "Here, take my chair."
Hullin seated himself, and Louise, placing her hands upon his shoulders, burst into tears.
"What is the matter, my child?" asked the old man in wonder. "A moment ago you were brave enough."