h me is not so terrible a matter. My
rank you know, and standing high, as I do, in the favour of His
Most Gracious Majesty, your position at court will be such as
might gratify the daughter of the noblest family in France. The
study of my life will be to make you happy.

"'I shall now leave you to think over the matter. I shall not
pester you with my attentions, and for another month you will not
see me again. At the end of that time, I trust that you will have
seen the futility of condemning yourself to further captivity, and
will be disposed to make more allowance, than at present, for the
step to which my passion for yourself has driven me.'

"It was just a month since she had been carried off, and, the very
day when you rescued her, the old woman had informed her that the
vicomte would do himself the pleasure of calling upon her the next
day. For the first fortnight she had held up bravely, in the hope
that I should discover the place where she had been hidden. Then
she began to feel the imprisonment and silence telling upon her,
for the old woman only entered to bring in her meals, and never
opened her lips, except on the first occasion, when she told her
that she was strictly forbidden to converse with her. After that
she began to despair, and the news that her abductor would visit
her, the next day, decided her to make an attempt to escape. She
had no difficulty in letting herself down from the window by the
aid of her bedclothes, but she found that what had been said
respecting the wall and gate was true, and that she was no nearer
escape than she had been, before she had left her room. She was
trying, in vain, to unbar the gate, which, indeed, would have been
useless could she have accomplished it, as it was also locked. But
she was striving, with the energy of desperation, when the door of
the house opened, and the men rushed out and seized her. As they
dragged her back to the house, she uttered the cries that brought
you to her assistance. The rest you know.

"As soon as I heard her story, I went to the palace and asked for
a private interview with the king. The king received me graciously
enough, and asked, with an appearance of great interest, if I had
obtained any news of my daughter.

"'I have more than obtained news, Your Majesty. I have my daughter
back again, and I have come to demand justice at your hands.'

"'I congratulate you, indeed, Baron,' the king said, with an
appearance of warmth, but