Monsieur Rigaud had already resumed his meal, though not with quite so quick an appetite as before.     

       ‘Adieu, my birds!’ said the keeper of the prison, taking his pretty child in his arms, and dictating the words with a kiss.     

       ‘Adieu, my birds!’ the pretty child repeated.     

       Her innocent face looked back so brightly over his shoulder, as he walked away with her, singing her the song of the child’s game:     

  

       ‘Who passes by this road so late?     

       Compagnon de la Majolaine!     

       Who passes by this road so late?     

       Always gay!’      

  

       that John Baptist felt it a point of honour to reply at the grate, and in good time and tune, though a little hoarsely:     

  

       ‘Of all the king’s knights ‘tis the flower,     

       Compagnon de la Majolaine!     

       Of all the king’s knights ‘tis the flower,     

       Always gay!’      

  

       Which accompanied them so far down the few steep stairs, that the prison-keeper had to stop at last for his little daughter to hear the song out, and repeat the Refrain while they were yet in sight. Then the child’s head disappeared, and the prison-keeper’s head disappeared, but the little voice prolonged the strain until the door clashed.     

       Monsieur Rigaud, finding the listening John Baptist in his way before the echoes had ceased (even the echoes were the weaker for 

 Prev. P 13/873 next