WHEN M. Clément went upstairs he found his wife rather uneasy. She had heard the noise, but did not like to go down, for fear of awakening baby Léon. The other children had all come into their mother's room.
M. Clément quietly and calmly told his wife what had happened, “And now," said he, “we must think what is to be done with Louise and Eugène, it is no longer safe for them to remain in the house."
“But where can we send them?" asked their mother.
“We must try to send them to England," replied M. Clément, “anywhere away from this unhappy land of ours."
He was right in calling it an unhappy land, for all children over seven years of age were allowed to give up the faith of their parents, and declare themselves Roman Catholics whether they understood or not.
M. Clément did not once murmur against the orders of the king. “Fear God, honor the king," was their motto, and the Huguenots were so well known for their honest dealing with all men, that the words "as honest as a Huguenot" became a proverb in France.
Marguerite quietly took her baby brother from her mother's arms, and began to dress him, while Louise and Eugène sat in a comer, wondering what had happened. When the baby was dressed, the children asked if they might go down to breakfast. " I am so hungry, surely Jeannette has forgotten us this morning," said Eugène in a piteous voice.
" Hush, Eugène," said Marguerite; “you shall have breakfast soon, dear one, have a little more patience."
“Papa, who is downstairs?" he asked. “Only some men who want a home, my boy."
“And may we not see them, are they soldiers?" he again asked.
“Ah, here comes our good Jeannette with some breakfast," exclaimed the mother brightly. Now that her terror had passed away, she did all she could to soothe her little ones.
Clever old Jeanne had, with wonderful thought for her, brought the breakfast up to a little room which the children used for a playroom. She coaxed her master and mistress to sit down and eat some breakfast with the children, and then went down to the men.
The soldiers sat down to the hearty meal prepared for them, and while they ate they asked Jeanne many questions about her master's family, but she answered them very cautiously, and went on so busily with her work that they left off troubling her when they found they could get no information from her.
Upstairs it was a very subdued party that sat down to breakfast. Marguerite was too thoughtful to tease her father with questions, and Claude quietly diverted the little ones by telling them a wonderful story which so interested them that they forgot all about the men downstairs. How proud the mother felt of her eldest son, sitting there so quietly amusing his little brother and sister so that they might eat their breakfast without being disturbed. His father felt proud of him too, when he remembered how brave and calm he had been when he opened the door to the soldiers. As for Eugène, he thought there was no one in the world like his big brother Claude.
Oh, what an earnest prayer for guidance the father sent up, as he knelt down in that little room with his family around him, and then he made them all repeat the text for the day, for each day they learned a verse. To-day it was " Considèrele dans toutes tes voies et il dirigera tes sentiers." “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Prov. 3:66In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:6).)