When, however, the tide began to turn, he
found, like his master, that he had been
miscalculating the true feelings of his neigh-
bours. Again and again he was openly con-
tradicted and talked down. When he spoke
of "the Emperor," others began to speak
boldly of "the King." He heard daily, in
his walks and calls, enough " blasphemy " to
make his hair stand on end, and to make him
think with horror of another Deluge. One
evening, walking by the sea, he saw several
bonfires burning up on the hill-sides. The
same night he heard that the Due de Berri
had landed in Jersey.
THE GROWING OF THE CLOUD. i6i

Among those who seemed quietly turning
their coats from parti-red to white was Mikel
Grallon; and, indeed, we doubt not that honest
Mikel would have turned his skin also, if that
were possible, and if it could be shown to be
profitable. He seemed now to have aban-
doned the idea of marrying Marcelle, but he
none the less bitterly resented her fidelity to
his rival. As soon as the tide of popular
feeling was fairly turned against Napoleon,
Grallon quietly ranged himself on the win-
ning side, secretly poisoning the public mind
against the Corporal, in whom, ere long,
people began to see the incarnation of all
they most detested and feared. Things
grew, until Corporal Derval, so far from
possessing any of his old influence, became
the most unpopular man in Kromlaix. He
represented the fading superstition, which
was already beginning to be regarded with
abhorrence.
