sed
and barred. The Bastile itself would have been cheerful compared with
this vast and fearful castle of solitude, or, as it might be, _worse_.
The sense of absolute defencelessness added poignancy to her fears of a
renewed visit from some ill-disposed denizen of the mansion; and her
fears at last became so strong, that she ventured to leave the rooms
where she had been established, intending to retreat to some part of the
house where her presence might at all events be less certainly expected
than where she was. Accordingly she was soon wending among all the
intricacies and solemn grandeur of a huge and half-ruinous hotel.
Descending, at last, a turret stair, she came to a small stone chamber,
in which was a little grated window. Standing upon a block of stone, she
looked through the strong bars of this little aperture, and perceived
that it was but some six or seven feet above the pave of a dark and
narrow lane. She would have given worlds to escape from the prison in
which she found herself, but the close, thick bars rendered all chance
of making that a passage of escape wholly desperate.

As she looked wistfully through, a little ragged urchin came whistling
carelessly along the lane, kicking a turnip before him.

She called the gamin: he was a shrewd monkey-faced fellow, with an
insolent crafty eye.

"My good boy, here is a louis-d'or, as earnest of twenty more which I
will give you, if you bring this safely to Monsieur le Marquis de
Secqville, at the Hotel de Secqville, Rue St. Etienne, and conduct him
hither."

"Hey, mademoiselle! it is a bargain. But how shall I know you
again?--what is your name?"

"I am Madame Le Prun; but the marquis will tell you where I am to be
found. See, here is the note!"

She had written a few lines upon a leaf of her tablet. She tore it off,
directed it, and then threw it out to the boy, together with the
promised coin. He ran away, chuckling and singing upon his errand,
believing his fortune made, and in an instant was out of sight.

Let us now see how he fared.

As the demon of contrariety would have it, Monsieur Le Prun, almost
insane with rage and spite, had, not five minutes before, dismounted at
the Hotel de Secqville, to consult the marquis respecting the flight of
Madame Le Prun. He had certainly chosen his advisers well. The marquis,
as it happened, was out, and Le Prun, who, of course, had access under
all circumstances to the interior of the hotel, established hi