said Etienne, quietly.

"You have seen the man to-day, and you know his strength?"

Etienne bowed.

"You must bring three daring fellows with you. Three of the soldiers
who accompanied me here to-day will do. You can instruct them. Guide
them through the armory, and by yonder passage to this room. The curtain
will conceal you. Make no noise; he is a wary foe. When I draw my sword
upon him, strike him down ere he can turn. Give him no chance; he is not
a man to be trifled with."

Again Etienne signified a stolid assent.

"Away now, and let not your fellows know my signal. A false step will
cost them their lives at La Pommeraye's hand. And let not a word escape
you, or I will string all four of you to the nearest tree. So, away! and
see that you are punctual. Let the good work be well done."

The stoical Picard withdrew from his master's presence, but muttered to
himself as he went down the long hall which led to the square: "It will
go hard, but I will see that the good work is, indeed, well done."

Charles de la Pommeraye was pretty well worn out by the amount of
travelling he had done, and he was glad when Etienne left him, and he
could throw himself on his couch to sleep. But the air seemed
oppressive. He felt that there was treachery in it, and, rising, he
bolted and barred the door of his room, and placed his trusty sword
within reach of his hand. Still he could not rest, and tossed about,
seeing both the hard face of De Roberval before him, and the rugged
outlines of the barren, northern island with the beckoning smoke curling
upward.

Midnight came; and when everything was at rest save the clink, clank of
the sentry's footfall as he walked back and forth on the wall, La
Pommeraye raised himself on his elbow, and listened. A rat seemed to be
gnawing at the wall. "Hard food, these stones," he said to himself.
"Methinks," he added, as the sound grew louder, "the rat hath strong
teeth."

The next instant the moonlight, which streamed in at the high window,
showed him a part of the solid wall moving back, and, in the opening, a
man, tall, square-shouldered, with a bull-neck, stood silent. Charles'
hand found his sword, and, leaping from his bed, he sprang at the
intruder.

When Etienne left his master, instead of going to the part of the castle
where the troopers were quartered, he went without the wall altogether,
and walked up and down in silent meditation. He was planning a course of
action, and his s