. Oh, he was kind to
me, and I would willingly do something to save him. It is so hard to
be only a woman. The Provost has the house guarded."

"I know it," Jerome put in drily.

"This gentleman gave your name and lodgings to the lady who was with
him there last night, and she it was who sent you the packet." Florine
had run on hurriedly, unheeding Jerome's blank look of astonishment.
This was probably a shrewd guess on her part, yet it squarely struck
the mark.

"Lady? Sent the papers? Who? What lady?" Jerome asked before she
could answer anything.

"That I must not tell, Monsieur. Oh, come, quick; get him away from
there; if our people find him they may do him harm. Monsieur is a
brave gentleman, a friend of his, is it not true? Come."

Jerome drew the facts pretty well out of the excited girl, knowing
somewhat of the circumstances and guessing the rest--all in an
exceeding short space of time. Florine told him as accurately as she
could in what room I lay, leaving him to locate the window from the
street. From this point the plan was simple enough. Jerome and
Florine arrived at Bertrand's by different routes, Florine passing in
unconcernedly, and Jerome, clad again as a stupid country knave, walked
by the house to discover my outer window.

It was at this time that the falling of the spur conveyed to him the
intelligence of my life and place of confinement. After this Jerome
had to depend greatly upon the quick-witted woman.

It would be a long story, and a bootless, were I to tell how it fell
out that Florine had a friend, the same kind-faced woman who helped her
watch beside my bed; the window of this friend's garret room opened
almost directly opposite Florine's own poor apartment. Only a narrow,
dingy alley lay between; so scant was the space the upper stories came
near to touching across it. Florine's friend, after some tearful
persuasion, consented to aid the rescue of such a gallant gentleman as
I was described to be. The girl could come and go at will. The friend
permitted Jerome and three of his men to hide in her room. From her
window Jerome cast a light cord into Florine's window, she drawing a
stouter rope across with it, and made fast. It now became a trifling
feat for these nimble adventurers to swing themselves across to
Florine's room, but twelve feet or so away. Once inside Bertrand's
they proceeded with abundant caution, all of which near came to naught
through Florine'