ac!
never was the enchanted princess of a fairy tale, shut up in her strong
tower guarded by dragons, in greater security than am I in this fortress
of mine."

"But sometimes it chances that the magic charms and spells, represented
by these bolts and bars, are insufficient, my beloved Isabelle, and
the enemy manages to force his way in, despite them all--and the mystic
signs, phylacteries, and abracadabras into the bargain."

"Yes; but that is when the princess within secretly favours his
efforts," said Isabelle, with a mischievous smile, "and in some
mysterious way constitutes herself his accomplice; being tired of her
seclusion, perhaps, or else in love with the bold intruder--neither of
which is my case you know, de Sigognac! Surely if I'm not afraid--I, who
am more timid than the trembling doe when she hears the dread sound of
the hunter's horn and the baying of the hounds you should not fear--you,
who are brave as Alexander the Great himself. Sleep in peace to-night,
my friend, I pray you, and sleep soundly--not with one eye open, as you
have done so often of late for my sake; and now, good night."

She held out to him a pretty little hand, white and soft enough to have
belonged to a veritable princess, which he kissed as reverently as if it
had been a queen's; then waited to hear her turn the big, clumsy, iron
key three times in the lock--no easy task for her delicate fingers--and
push home the heavy bolt. Breathing a fervent blessing upon her, he
turned away reluctantly towards his own door. As he paused an instant
before it he saw a shadow moving, turned round quickly, and caught sight
of the very man he had been thinking of, and puzzling over, so much
that evening--whose approach he had not heard at all--passing stealthily
along the corridor, presumably on his way to his own room. Not an
extraordinary circumstance, that; but the baron's suspicions were
instantly aroused, and under pretext of trying to introduce his key
into the lock, he furtively watched him the whole length of the passage,
until a turn in it hid him from view, as he gained an unfrequented part
of the house; a moment later, the sound of a door being softly opened
and closed announced that he had probably reached his own chamber, and
then all was still again.

"Now what does this mean?" said de Sigognac to himself, and haunted by a
vague feeling of anxiety and uneasiness, he could not even bring himself
to lie down upon his bed and rest his