CHAPTER III.
LES ARENES.
When we got back, we found my uncle Chambrun, my mother's only brother, standing at the door.

He was the minister of a small town near Avignon, and did not care to go to the Fair; nevertheless he was very glad to hear all about it from those who had been there.

We were well pleased to have so ready a listener; and when we had said our say, he fell into grave talk with my father and mother of the signs of the times, which he thought very threatening.
"What can we expect otherwise," said he, "with Louis the Fourteenth for king and Louvois for his minister, and Pere la Chaise for his confessor, and Madame de Maintenon for his confidante and adviser?
A storm is gathering overhead, but never mind--there is a heaven higher than all." These words checked us; but youthful spirits soon rise, and the impression did not last long.

I now seemed walking on air, for I loved and was loved by Madeleine.
A few days after our return from Beaucaire, Marie Lefevre burst in on us with troubled looks, and exclaimed, "Have you seen my boy ?" "No!" exclaimed we all.
"Then something has befallen him," cried she, wringing her hands.

"We have lost sight of him." We gathered about her, full of pity, and asked where he had last been seen.
"Near Les Arenes." "He may have fallen into some pit, or lost himself among the dungeons," said my mother.