ount?" I asked.

"Tell me where your friend and mine is, or if you will not tell me, take
to him a letter. I have been trying to find him this fortnight."

"I cannot tell you where he is, my dear count--"

"Of course not! I do not ask," he interrupted.

"--But I may be able to forward your letter to him. I heard only the
other day that he was in France."

"Of course, of course, he is in France! Not in England at all! Good,
good! I see you are to be trusted. But I must have your word of honor
that the letter will be delivered."

"I shall send it by none but a trusted messenger," I answered, "and shall
return it to you unopened unless I am convinced beyond a doubt that it
will reach our friend."

"Good, good! Come to my hotel. I will trust you."

We went to De Grammont's house, and after taking great precautions
against discovery, he gave me a small wooden box wound with yards of tape
and sealed with quantities of wax. I put the box in my pocket, saying:--

"I accept the trust on my honor, dear count, and though the package bears
no name nor address, I shall deliver it to the person for whom it is
intended."

De Grammont said he knew nothing of the contents of the box except that
it contained a message for a friend, and I believed him.

When I left his house he came to the door with me, murmuring: "My
gratitude! My gratitude! Also the gratitude of my king, which I hope may
prove of far greater value to your friend than my poor offering of
words."

I lost no time in seeking George, except to make sure that I was not
followed. I trusted De Grammont and felt sure that the box he had given
me contained a personal communication from no less a person than Louis
XIV of France, but I wanted to take no risk of betraying Hamilton by
leading De Grammont or any one else to his hiding-place.

Since Frances's providential escape, the king had suspected the right
persons of her rescue. At least he suspected Hamilton, and was seeking
him more diligently than ever before. His Majesty had not shown me any
mark of disfavor, but I feared he suspected me, and was sure he was not
convinced that Frances's alibi had been proved by unsuborned testimony.
If he was sure that she was the one who had been kidnapped, his
suspicious nature would connect George with the rescue, and would lead
him to conclude that Hamilton must be in England.

A maid of Lady Castlemain's told Rochester, who in turn told me, that the
king had again set hi