"
"Le Brun!" cried he to the groom who had brought his horse, and to
whom he threw the whip which had made such havoc among the flowers,
"lead Black Caesar to the stable again! and hark you! when I bid you
bring him out in the early morning another time, lead him to me
unbridled and unsaddled, with only a halter on his head, that I may
ride as a clown, not as a gentleman!"
Le Brun stared at this speech, and finally regarded it as a capital
joke, or else, as he whispered to his fellow-grooms in the stable,
he believed his young master had gone mad.
"Pierre Philibert," continued Amelie, "is down at the salmon pool.
Let us join him, Le Gardeur, and bid him good morning once more at
Tilly."
Amelie, overjoyed at her victory, tripped gaily by the side of her
brother, and presently two friendly hands, the hands of Pierre
Philibert, were extended to greet her and Le Gardeur.
The hand of Amelie was retained for a moment in that of Pierre
Philibert, sending the blood to her cheeks. There is a magnetic
touch in loving fingers which is never mistaken, though their
contact be but for a second of time: it anticipates the strong grasp
of love which will ere long embrace body and soul in adamantine
chains of a union not to be broken even by death.
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