He came home to breakfast, mounted his farm pony as soon as the meal was over, and made his rounds of the estate like a bailiff,--getting home in time for dinner, and finishing the day with a game of boston.

All the inhabitants of the chateau had their stated occupations; life was as closely regulated there as in a convent.

Laurence alone disturbed its even tenor by her sudden journeys, her uncertain returns, and by what Madame d'Hauteserre called her pranks.

But with all this peacefulness there existed at Cinq-Cygne conflicting interests and certain causes of dissension.

In the first place Durieu and his wife were jealous of Catherine and Gothard, who lived in greater intimacy with their young mistress, the idol of the household, than they did.