anguage! They
tumble our castles in Spain about our ears with neither ruth nor
warning. Man would be in Paradise to this day--but Eve ate the apple;
Napoleon would have conquered Europe--but England stood in the way. So
was it with Paul Beaufoy. His lost hour would have been regained--but
but the pace killed, and with Amboise a weary distance away he found
himself stranded and disconsolate beside a foundered horse. And linked
to the tragedy of the disjunctive was this other tragedy. It is the
generous-hearted who pay for the follies of others. Had the
broken-down beast been a cowardly scum it would never have lain a
castaway by the roadside.

And now, indeed, in the King's vigorous phrase, hell was at his back;
only, as is so often the way with blinded humanity, he never guessed
the truth, but thought it salvation, from behind, down a side-road,
clattered a small troop at a quick trot, and taking the middle of the
highway Beaufoy called a halt.

"In the King's name!" he cried, holding up the hand of authority. The
intoxication of a first commission is almost as self-deceiving as that
of a first love. In his place Philip de Commines, recognizing that he
was outnumbered ten to one, would have been diplomatic. When there is
no power to strike, it is always unwise to clench the fist, especially
when a hat in the hand may gain the point. But the authority sufficed,
and at a motion from their leader the troop halted.

"More energy than discretion," said he, with a glance at the disabled
horse. "What can I do for you, and why in the King's name?"

"My energy and discretion are my affair," answered Beaufoy, more
nettled by his inability to dispute the truth than by the truth itself.
"I am from Valmy upon the King's business, and must have a horse
without delay."

"Let Valmy buy its own horses, I am no dealer," was the brusque answer.
But the hands which had caught up the loosened reins promptly tightened
them afresh. "How long from Valmy?"

"That can matter nothing to you; what does matter is that I am on the
King's business and must have a horse."

"Having, like a fool, killed your own! But that, as you say, is no
affair of mine. When did you leave Valmy?"

"I see no reason----" began Beaufoy, but with a backward gesture the
other silenced him.

"Reasons enough," he said. "Count them for yourself. For the third
time, when did you leave Valmy?"

"This morning, and I warn you that the King will ca