The Peasant and the Prince | Page 3

against the
law for anybody to keep rabbits and pigeons except the nobles."
"Pigeons!" exclaimed Robin. "Why, that is too bad! I have the prettiest
pair of doves, from this wood, that ever was seen. I took them from the
nest, a month ago; and I tell Marie that their cooing will set all the
doves in the wood cooing, so that she will have music all day long
while you are away at work."
"No matter for all that," said Charles. "It would be a pretty treat for
Marie; and it is a pretty thought of yours: but Marie must be content to
hear the Count's pigeons coo; for the first day the bailiff finds any tame
ones, he will wring their necks, and make her or you suffer for having
them. I can't allow a rabbit or a pigeon here, boys, say what you will.
They will be my ruin. Ah! I see you are vexed with me: but I did not
make the law, and have no more liking to it than you: but I can tell you,
quick as the bailiff's eyes are upon everybody, they are most so upon
people who live, as I am going to do, with fish, and pigeons, and
rabbits all close round about them, and oftentimes wanting a meal, as I

fear Marie and I shall do."
The boys declared that if Charles would not take home their presents,
they would keep them, and bear the risk themselves. They might thus
let Marie have a rabbit or a bird to eat, now and then, if she could not
keep them in their live state, as a pleasure.
As the floor of the hut could not be too much trodden, in the absence of
planks and bricks, Charles and the boys gave it a first treading now, as
soon as the six biggest stakes were driven in. Like all their peasant
neighbours who were not barefoot, they wore wooden clogs; and with
these all three stamped and tramped with might and main.
They were so busy at this work, that they did not perceive that any one
was approaching, till Robin, happening to turn round, exclaimed--
"Why, here is Marie!"
Charles bounded out of the enclosure, threw his arms round Marie, and
covered her cheek with kisses; so delighted was he with her for coming,
as he thought, to see how the work went on, without even waiting till
he went for her.
"Stay, stay, Charles!" exclaimed she, as soon as he would let her speak.
"Hear what I came for," she added, mournfully, and almost impatiently.
"You must give over this work for to-day; and perhaps for many days
more. You must go away somewhere out of sight, till all the strangers
have left the place; or there is no saying what may happen. Father says
so; and it was my mother that bade me come. She could not come
herself, and so leave me among the soldiers."
"Soldiers! What soldiers?" asked all at once.
"The soldiers are come that we were warned would come whenever the
Count should bring his family home, and the Dauphiness pass through:
and there are so many that there is not a house within two miles of the
village that has not some quartered in it. We have three at home; and
what we are to do for them we don't know, nor how long they will stay.

The first thing, however, Charles, is for you to keep out of sight. Father
says if you don't, the Count's people will certainly be laying hold of
you for military service."
Charles struck his mallet against a tree, as if he wished to knock its
head off. Between fear, anger, and disappointment, he was quite in a
passion. He could not reasonably deny that all his and Marie's hopes
might depend on his hiding himself till the bustle was past; but it made
him wretched to think of skulking in idleness, when his protection and
assistance would be most wanted by Marie and her family.
"Now, don't do that, love," said Marie, gently holding his hand, as the
dull shock of his blows echoed through the wood. "That noise will
bring somebody. The Count himself, and his family, are not far off; and
his people are all about. Do be quiet, Charles."
"Quiet, indeed! And what are you to do with three soldiers, when you
have not enough for yourselves?"
"I don't know, indeed," said Marie, tearfully, as she remembered that
her mother's cherished pair of fowls were doomed already for supper.
She did not mention this; but said that the soldiers were calling for fuel,
as they liked a good fire in spring evenings; and that her brothers must
make haste home, each with a faggot, which