ll be back
before any one is stirring. The others concerned will hold their
tongues for their own sakes. The soldiers will not admit that they
have been drunk, but will declare that no one has passed the gate. The
lieutenant in charge will hang up the key on its hook in the
guard-room, and will declare that every time he made his rounds he
found the men alert and vigilant. It will therefore be supposed that
the warder has let you out by a rope or in some other way. No doubt
there will be a vigilant hue-and-cry in the morning, and the
commandant will search every house, will keep a sharp watch over the
chateau, and will scour the country for miles round. But it will die
away in time. I wrote yesterday afternoon to my friends in St.
Petersburg, urging them to obtain the appointment of some friend to
this post. The party of reform will be in the ascendency in the
counsels of the emperor, and I have every hope that I shall shortly be
restored to favor at court, a matter, by the way, which I care for
very much more for the sake of my daughters than for myself. The
countess and I are well content with our life in the country, but the
girls naturally look forward to the gayeties of life at the capital.
Beside which," he added, laughing, "I must be looking for husbands for
them, and I fear that I should not find satisfactory suitors in this
neighborhood."

Jack could not help glancing at Olga, for, with a midshipman's usual
inflammatory tendency, he was convinced that he was hopelessly in love
with that damsel. Olga colored, and then turned away, from which Jack
could gain no indication favorable or otherwise for his hopes.

The count now explained the plans that had been adopted for their
escape. "It would," he said, "seem the natural course to aid you, as
we have done the warder, by driving you far into the country. But the
descriptions of you are sure to be sent to every place within fifty
miles. I know no one to whom I could safely entrust you, and the
doctor says that it is impossible that our friend Dick should walk for
any distance for the next two or three days. The doctor has
fortunately received orders to-day to start at daybreak this morning
with a convoy going back to Sebastopol. No doubt the new commandant
had heard that he was prepared to give evidence at the court-martial
contradicting the governor's statement that you were prisoners on
parole, and therefore wished to get him out of the way. There are
several