that no evil consequences would
befall him, would venture upon such a step. You must remember that
there are not a few nobles of the court who have ruined themselves,
to keep up the lavish expenditure incumbent upon those who bask in
the royal favour at Versailles. It would be possible that His
Majesty may have endeavoured to obtain the hand of this young lady
for one of his favourites, and that her father may be a noble of
sufficient consequence to hold his own, and to express to His
Majesty his regret that he was unable to adopt his recommendation,
as he had other views for the disposal of her hand.

"The real singularity of the matter is, that no one can tell with
certainty who the missing lady is. Early in the day half a dozen
were named, but as I believe all of these put in an appearance at
the reception in the afternoon, it is evident that, so far as they
were concerned, there were no foundations for the rumour. It may
be taken for certain, however, that her friends are powerful
people, to have been able to impose silence upon those acquainted
with the facts."

"Well, it is impossible to take very much interest in the story,"
Desmond said carelessly, "when we are in ignorance of the very
name of the lady, and of the important point, whether she has
voluntarily gone away either with a lover or to a convent, or
whether she has been carried off against her will. If the latter,
you were talking of adventures, O'Neil, and this would be just the
sort of adventure that I should like; for us three to discover the
maiden, and rescue her from her abductor."

The others both laughed loudly.

"And this is the young officer who, the other day, declared that
he wished for no adventures save those that came in the course of
a campaign, and now he is declaring that he would like to become a
very knight errant, and go about rescuing damsels in distress!"

"I have no idea of carrying it into execution," Desmond said. "It
was merely an expression of a wish. Of course, if the lady in
question went willingly and to avoid persecution, I would rather
help than hinder her; but if she has been carried off by some
ruined courtier, nothing would please me better than to rescue her
from him."

Several days had passed, and at last it was confidently believed
that the missing lady was the daughter of Baron Pointdexter, a
magnate of Languedoc, who had but recently come up to court, on an
intimation from the king that it was a long tim