OUR REPRESENTATIVE MAN. 285 



His plan of imparting information to us as we drove along, 

 seemed to be based upon the same motive as that which in- 

 duced the simple soldat in La Grajide Dtcchesse to ask for a 

 schoolmaster's place, " in order that he might learn something 

 himself." 



" This," said my Well-informed Friend, as we drove along 

 the road 'twixt Dinan and Dol, " is an interesting country. 

 Let me see, this was the great place for the Vendeens." 



" The who ? " asked my Grandmother. 



" The Vendeens," replied my Well-informed Friend, adding 

 immediately, as he turned to me, " wasn't it ? " as if he still 

 had his doubts of his own historical accuracy. 



I asked him, " Why were the Vendeens so called ? " 



" Well, let me see," he observed, meditatively, " they were 

 in the Revolution," — this is always a safe thing to say of any 

 Frenchmen — " and were a sort of sharpshooters, eh, weren't 

 they ?" I return that I am depending upon him for informa- 

 tion. 



" Well,'* he answered, with, probably, an inward resolve to 

 look up the whole subject the instant he should get home 

 among his books, " the Vendeens were like thefranc-iiretcrs, 

 and their name was something to do with — I fancy, I don't 

 say I am absolutely right — with Vendetta ; and they took a 

 vow of eternal vengeance, and so on." 



" But," I remark, " the Vendetta was Corsican." 



" Exactly," returned my Well-informed Friend ; " why 

 not ? Napoleon was a Corsican, wasn't he ? " 



This was, evidently, decisive, and as I had nothing to say 

 for or against it, we set ourselves to admire the vast panorama 



