the moment his countenance was seen, no one could have mistaken its
expression of hope.

He then resumed his way, heading toward the light he thought he had
seen. As he advanced, the lights and the noises grew more distinct. It
was evident that the quarry was inhabited. By whom? He did not yet know,
but he would know.

He was already within ten feet of that open clearing in the midst of
the granite walls which we described on our first visit to the grotto
of Ceyzeriat. Roland clung closely to the wall, and moved forward
almost imperceptibly. In the dim half-light he looked like a gliding
bass-relief.

At last his head passed beyond an angle of the wall, and his glance
rested upon what we may call the camp of the Companions of Jehu.

A dozen or more of the members sat there at supper. Roland was seized
with a wild desire to precipitate himself into their midst, attacking
them singly, and fighting until he died. But he repressed the insensate
thought, withdrew his head as slowly as he had advanced it, and, with
beaming eyes and heart full of joy, returned, unseen and unsuspected,
along the way he had come. Everything was now explained; the deserted
Chartreuse, M. de Valensolle's disappearance, and the counterfeit
poachers near the entrance to the grotto of Ceyzeriat.

This time he was sure of his vengeance, his deadly, terrible
vengeance--deadly, because, in like manner as he had been spared (he
suspected intentionally), he meant to spare others; with this difference
that, whereas he had been spared for life, he would order these men
spared for death, death on the scaffold.

Half-way back he thought he heard a noise behind him. He turned and was
certain he saw a gleam of light. He quickened his steps. The gate once
passed, there was no danger of losing his way. It was no longer a quarry
with a thousand windings; it was a straight and narrow vaulted passage
leading to the mortuary grating. At the end of ten minutes he again
passed under the river; a couple of minutes later, his outstretched hand
touched the iron gate.

He took the crowbar from the place where he had left it, entered the
vault, pulled the gate to, closed it gently and noiselessly, and,
guiding himself by the tombs, he regained the staircase, pushed up the
flagstone with his head, and stood once more in the land of the living.

There it was comparative daylight. He left the choir, closed the door of
the screen as he had found it, scaled the hay, cr