The coachman was told
to search for saddle-horses for Mademoiselle and for his master, and
for carriage-horses for the caleche in which the colonel and the
lieutenant had returned to Havre. That carriage, bought in Paris, was
of the latest fashion, and bore the arms of La Bastie, surmounted by a
count's coronet. These things, insignificant in the eyes of a man who
for four years had been accustomed to the unbridled luxury of the
Indies and of the English merchants at Canton, were the subject of
much comment among the business men of Havre and the inhabitants of
Ingouville and Graville. Before five days had elapsed the rumor of
them ran from one end of Normandy to the other like a train of
gunpowder touched by fire.
"Monsieur Mignon has come back from China with millions," some one
said in Rouen; "and it seems he was made a count in mid-ocean."
"But he was the Comte de La Bastie before the Revolution," answered
another.
"So they call him a liberal just because he was plain Charles Mignon
for twenty-five years! What are we coming to?" said a third.
Modeste was considered, therefore, notwithstanding the silence of her
parents and friends, as the richest heiress in Normandy, and all eyes
began once more to see her merits.
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