ne, count. It was some four years
ago, at Agen, that I met you, and had the misfortune to have
trouble with your cousin, Count Raoul; but short as it was, it was
sufficient to show me that you were a gentleman of heart, and to
encourage me, now, to throw myself on your generosity."

"Are you the gentleman who fought my cousin, and afterwards escaped
from the castle?" the count asked, in surprise.

"I am, count. I am here upon no plot or conspiracy, but simply to
endeavour to ascertain the fate of my cousin, Francois de Laville,
who was with the King of Navarre on that fearful night, a fortnight
since. His mother is distracted at hearing no news of him, while to
me he is as a brother.

"I effected my own escape, and have, as you see, returned in
disguise to ascertain his fate. I am unable to obtain a list of
those who were murdered and, seeing you, I felt that it would be
safe to rely upon your honour, and to ask you to give me the news I
require. I will fall back now, for it might be thought strange that
a noble should be talking to a peasant; but I pray you to lead the
way to some quiet spot, where I can speak with you unnoticed."

"My lodging is in the next street. Follow me, and I will take you
up to my room."

As soon as they had entered the lodging, the count said:

"You are not deceived. I am incapable of betraying a trust imposed
upon me. I bear you no malice for the slaying of my cousin; for
indeed, the quarrel was not of your seeking. Still less do I feel
hostility towards you on the ground of your religion; for I doubt
not, from what you say, that you are of the Reformed faith. I
lament, most deeply and bitterly, the events that have taken
place--events which dishonour our nation in the eyes of all Europe.
I have not the pleasure of knowing your name."

"I am the Chevalier Philip Fletcher, an Englishman by birth, though
related on my mother's side to the family of the Count de Laville."

"I have heard your name, sir, as that of one of the bravest
gentlemen in the following of Admiral Coligny.

"Now, as to your cousin; his fate is uncertain. He was certainly
cut down by the hired wretches of the Guises. They passed on in
search of other victims, believing him to be dead; but his body was
not afterwards found, and the general opinion is that he either
recovered and crawled away, and is still in some hiding place, or
that he is concealed somewhere in the palace itself. Search was
made next day, but wi