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326 ing to travel?’ said I.—‘Good Heaven! do you not know?’ said my father’s chasseur, ‘his Excellency—you, Mademoiselle, and all of us.’—‘At what time, then, and whither?’—‘This very evening,—to the country.’—‘And for what reason?’ The man shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and I went on to my father’s study. ‘Seraphina’s second prophecy,’ said he, ‘has now been fulfilled; and this was of all the most improbable. I have been disgraced and deposed.’—‘And this, too, she had anticipated?’—‘Precisely so; but I concealed it from you of course. As for the rest, I submit willingly to this change of fortune, and leave my place as minister to one who may use more art, and remain longer in favour. I shall go to my house in the country,—and live only for your sake, and that of my own faithful tenants and adherents.’ Distressed to the heart, as I should have otherwise been by this misfortune, my father’s equanimity and decision of character tranquillized my feelings,—We set out at midnight, for he would not remain here an hour longer than was absolutely requisite. During the journey, he continued perfectly cheerful, and, on