s I look
back upon it, that I did not go mad with vexation and self-reproach as I
lay helplessly upon the couch, unable to utter a word or move a finger,
with the knowledge that my fifty gallant lads were so close to me, and
yet with no means of letting them know the straits to which I was
reduced. It was no new thing for me to be a prisoner; but to be taken by
these renegades, and to be led into their Abbey in the midst of their
jeers, befooled and out-witted by their insolent leaders--that was
indeed more than I could endure. The knife of the butcher beside me
would cut less deeply than that.

I twitched softly at my wrists, and then at my ankles, but whichever of
the two had secured me was no bungler at his work. I could not move
either of them an inch. Then I tried to work the handkerchief down over
my mouth, but the ruffian beside me raised his knife with such a
threatening snarl that I had to desist. I was lying still looking at his
bull neck, and wondering whether it would ever be my good fortune to fit
it for a cravat, when I heard returning steps coming down the inn
passage and up the stair. What word would the villain bring back? If he
found it impossible to kidnap me, he would probably murder me where I
lay. For my own part, I was indifferent which it might be, and I looked
at the doorway with the contempt and defiance which I longed to put into
words. But you can imagine my feelings, my dear friends, when, instead
of the tall figure and dark, sneering face of the Capuchin, my eyes fell
upon the grey pelisse and huge moustaches of my good little sub-officer,
Papilette!

The French soldier of those days had seen too much to be ever taken by
surprise. His eyes had hardly rested upon my bound figure and the
sinister face beside me before he had seen how the matter lay.

'Sacred name of a dog!' he growled, and out flashed his great sabre.
Chenier sprang forward at him with his knife, and then, thinking better
of it, he darted back and stabbed frantically at my heart. For my own
part, I had hurled myself off the bed on the side opposite to him, and
the blade grazed my side before ripping its way through blanket and
sheet. An instant later I heard the thud of a heavy fall, and then
almost simultaneously a second object struck the floor--something
lighter but harder, which rolled under the bed. I will not horrify you
with details, my friends. Suffice it that Papilette was one of the
strongest swordsmen in the reg