t."

"Who accompanied you to the barracks?"

"No one; I returned alone."

"And this Monsieur de Beauvais,--you can't tell anything of him? What
age is he? what height?"

"About my own," said I, blushing deeply at the thought of the events
of a few moments back. "He may be somewhat older, but he looks not much
more than twenty-one or two."

"Have you mentioned any of these circumstances to any of your brother
officers or to your colonel?"

"No, sir, never."

"Very right, sir. These are times in which discretion is of no common
importance. I have only to recommend similar circumspection in future.
It is probable that some of these gentlemen may visit you and write
to you; they may invite you to sup or to dine. If so, sir, accept the
invitation. Be cautious, however, not to speak of this interview to any
one. Remember, sir, I am the messenger of one who never forgave a breach
of trust, but who also never fails to reward loyalty and attachment. If
you be but prudent, Mr. Burke, your fortune is certain."

With these words. Monsieur Gisquet threw his cloak over his shoulder,
and raising his hat, he bowed formally to me and withdrew; leaving me to
meditations which, I need not say, were none of the happiest.

If my fears were excited by the thought of the acquaintances I had so
rashly formed, so also was my pride insulted by the system of watching
to which my movements had been subjected; and deeper still, by the
insulting nature of the proposal the minister of police had not scrupled
to make to me,--on reflecting over which, only, did I perceive how base
and dishonorable it was.

"What!" asked I of myself, "is it a spy--is it a false underhand
betrayer of the men into whose society I have been admitted on terms of
friendly intercourse--he would make of me? What saw he in me or in my
actions to dare so far? Was not the very cloth I wear enough to guard me
against such an insult?" Then came the maddening reflection, "Why had
I not thought of this sooner? Why had I not rejected his proposal with
scorn, and told him that I was not of the stuff he looked for?"

But what is it that he wished to learn? and who were these men, and what
were their designs? These were questions' that flashed across me; and I
trembled to think how deeply implicated I might become at any moment in
plans of which I knew nothing, merely from the imprudence with which I
had made their acquaintance. The escape of De Beauvais, if discovered,
wou