harnessed the smoking horses,
and put the carriage into a coach house.

Then the officer, with the same calm politeness, invited his prisoner
to enter the house. She, with a still-smiling countenance, took his arm,
and passed with him under a low arched door, which by a vaulted passage,
lighted only at the farther end, led to a stone staircase around an
angle of stone. They then came to a massive door, which after the
introduction into the lock of a key which the young man carried with
him, turned heavily upon its hinges, and disclosed the chamber destined
for Milady.

With a single glance the prisoner took in the apartment in its minutest
details. It was a chamber whose furniture was at once appropriate for a
prisoner or a free man; and yet bars at the windows and outside bolts at
the door decided the question in favor of the prison.

In an instant all the strength of mind of this creature, though drawn
from the most vigorous sources, abandoned her; she sank into a large
easy chair, with her arms crossed, her head lowered, and expecting every
instant to see a judge enter to interrogate her.

But no one entered except two or three marines, who brought her trunks
and packages, deposited them in a corner, and retired without speaking.

The officer superintended all these details with the same calmness
Milady had constantly seen in him, never pronouncing a word himself,
and making himself obeyed by a gesture of his hand or a sound of his
whistle.

It might have been said that between this man and his inferiors spoken
language did not exist, or had become useless.

At length Milady could hold out no longer; she broke the silence. "In
the name of heaven, sir," cried she, "what means all that is passing?
Put an end to my doubts; I have courage enough for any danger I can
foresee, for every misfortune which I understand. Where am I, and why
am I here? If I am free, why these bars and these doors? If I am a
prisoner, what crime have I committed?"

"You are here in the apartment destined for you, madame. I received
orders to go and take charge of you on the sea, and to conduct you
to this castle. This order I believe I have accomplished with all the
exactness of a soldier, but also with the courtesy of a gentleman. There
terminates, at least to the present moment, the duty I had to fulfill
toward you; the rest concerns another person."

"And who is that other person?" asked Milady, warmly. "Can you not tell
me his nam