THE TRAVELLER  
The traveller had not been mistaken; the voice did come from the river. A shadow slowly ascended the bank, and in a moment stood at the horse's head, with one hand resting on the bridle. The rider, apparently annoyed by this familiarity, pulled his horse back a step or two.
"Oh! I beg your pardon, citizen," said the new-comer, "I did not know it was forbidden to touch your horse."
[Pg 389]
"It is not forbidden," said the traveller; "but you know at night, and in these times, it is advisable to converse at a certain distance."
"The deuce! I cannot distinguish what is advisable from what is not. You seemed unable to find your way; I saw it, and I said to myself, as I am a good fellow, 'Here is a Christian who does not seem to know his way about, so I will direct him.' You called to me to come to you, and here I am. You do not need me; good-by!"
"Your pardon, friend," said the other, restraining him with a gesture, "the movement of my horse was an involuntary one. I do really need you, and you can do me a service."
"What is it? Tell me. Oh! I bear no malice."
"Do you belong to this region?"
"I come from Saint-Rémy, near by. You can see the church from here."
"Then you know the neighborhood?"
"I should think so. I am a fisherman by trade. There is not a run of water for thirty miles around into which I have not cast my lines."
"Then you must know the abbey of Seillon?"
"Do I know the abbey of Seillon! I should think so. But I can't say as much for the monks."
"And why can't you say as much for the monks?"
"Why, because they have been driven out since 1797, of course."
"Then to whom does the Chartreuse belong?"
"To no one."
"What? A farm, a convent, a forest of ten thousand acres, and three thousand acres of land besides, here in France, which belongs to no one?"
"They belong to the Republic, which amounts to the same thing."
"Then the Republic does not cultivate the land which it confiscates?"
"As if it had the time! It has plenty of other things to do, has this Republic."
[Pg 390]
"What has it to do?"
"It has to make a new skin."
"True—it is putting on its third. Do you bother your head with such things?"
"Oh! a little in my spare time. Our neighbors of the Jura have sent the Republic General Pichegru, just the same."
"Yes."
"They can't have liked that very well over yonder. But here I am chattering and wasting your time. After all, though, if you are going to Seillon, you need not hurry."
"Why not?"
"Why, because there is no one there."
"No one?"
"The deuce, not unless it be the ghosts of the old monks, and they don't appear until midnight, so you will have to wait."
"Are you sure, my friend," persisted the traveller, "that there is no one at the abbey of Seillon?" And he emphasized the words.
"I passed there yesterday, when I was carrying some fish to Madame de Montrevel at the Chateau des Noires-Fontaines; there was not even a cat there." Then he added emphatically: "They were all priests of Baal, so there is not much harm done."
The traveller started, more visibly than at first.
"Priests of Baal?" he asked, looking fixedly at the fisherman.
"Yes, and unless you come from a certain king of Israel whose name I have forgotten—"
"From King Jehu, you mean, do you not?"
"I am not sure; it was a king who was consecrated by a prophet—named—named—What was the name of the prophet who consecrated King Jehu?"
"Elisha," responded the traveller, without hesitation.
"That is it. But he consecrated him on one condition. What was that condition? Help me to remember."
[Pg 391]
"That he punish the crimes of the house of Ahab and Jezebel."
"The deuce! Tell me about it at once;" and he held out his hand to ............