The Return Home
humbly. “Nichette has told me everything, and I shall punish her to-morrow for stealing the keys,—and for all. If anything had happened to you,—oh, my Queen! What could I have done, how could I have borne it! Besides, it was fear of me which drove you away upon the wrong road. I have served you many years, though you know me not. Show me that you are not angry, that you forgive. Let me be the one to bear you home to safety, my Queen.”
He did not look terrible to Clotilde now that she saw him there in the moonlight, though his voice was gruff and his boots were big.
“You are Pierre the Porter,” she said. “I do know you. And you are Nichette’s father; she is now my best friend. You must not punish Nichette. It was not her fault. It was my own foolishness which made me afraid. I love Nichette; if you will promise me not to punish her, Pierre, you shall take me home on your horse.”
And so it was. Seated before him Clotilde the Queen rode back to her village. And Mignon, tattered and torn, was clasped tightly in her mother’s arms all the way. For had she not71
