ressed, but carries a
sword. He is young, too, and wears a mustache like an officer."

"I will see him. Open the door."

The lackey did as he was bidden, his fellow jumping down also from
behind, and each of them offering an arm to their imperious mistress
to aid her descent from the high vehicle; then madame la baronne
advanced to the front of her horses' heads and gazed down at the
unconscious man lying in the dust.

"Turn his face up," she said, "and let me see it." The servants doing
as she bade them, and parting also the long hair that fell over the
face, the woman gave a start and muttered under her lips, "My God!"
And at the same time, beneath her patches and powder, she turned very
pale. "Is he dead?" she asked a moment later, in a constrained voice,
while still she gazed at him.

"I think not, my lady," one of the men said who was kneeling beside
the man in the road. "His heart beats. It may be a vertigo or the heat
of the sun. Certainly he is not dead."

"Take him up," she said, "and carry him, you two, into the town.
Attach his horse, also, to the carriage and lead it in. Follow at
once;" and she re-entered the _caleche_.

"Where, madame, shall we place him?" the lackey asked, who had first
spoken. "With the _corps-de-garde_, my lady?"

"No; bring him to my house. He shall be attended to there. He--he may
be a gentleman, and the _corps-de-garde_ are rough. We will attend to
him. Now bid the coachman drive on, and follow at once; do not lag
with him, or you shall be punished."

Slowly the carriage proceeded, therefore, into Rambouillet, and Madame
la Baronne de Louvigny, lying back in it, white to her lips, pondered
over the face that a few minutes before had been turned up to her
gaze.

"Alive," she said to herself. "De Vannes, and alive! And in my power;
another half hour and he will be in my house. So--he was not lost in
the galley that those vile English sunk! And Raoul is no nearer to the
wealth he needs than ever--no nearer. And, my God! the man lives who
called me 'wanton' in the road that night, the man whom I tried to
slay, the man through whom came my exposure. And in my house! In my
house!" And she laughed to herself and showed her teeth again. Then
she muttered to herself: "But for how long! Oh, that Raoul was here to
advise with!"

* * * * *

Late that night St. Georges opened his eyes and glanced around him,
wondering where he was and endeavouring to