any doctor had been seen
about the chateau. But no, nothing unusual seemed to have occurred, and
a ball was to take place that very evening. I would have given worlds,
were they mine, even to know in what part of the Palace she was lodged;
and fifty times did I affect to have some duty, as an excuse to cross
the terrace and steal a cautious glance towards the windows,--but in
vain.

So engrossed was my mind with thoughts of her that I forgot all else.
The pickets, too, I had not visited since daybreak, and my report to the
minister remained unfilled. It was late in the evening when I sallied
forth to my duty, and night, with scarce a star, was falling fast. My
preoccupation prevented my feeling the way as I walked along; and I had
already visited all the outposts except one, when a low, faint whistle,
that seemed to issue from the copse near me, startled me. It was
repeated after a moment, and I called out,--

"Who 's there? Advance."

"Ah, I thought it was you, Burke!" said a voice I at once knew to be
Beauvais's. "You broke faith with me at the town-gate yonder, and so I
had to come down here."

"How? You surely were not there when I passed?"

"Yes, but I was, though. Did you not see the woodcutter, with his blouse
on his arm, lighting his pipe at the door of the guardhouse?"

"Yes; but you can't mean that it was you."

"Do you remember his saying, 'Buy a cheap charretie of wood, Lieutenant;
I 'll leave it at your quarters? '"

"De Beauvais," said I, gravely, "these risks may be fatal to us both.
My orders are positive; and if I disobey them, there are no powerful
friends nor high relatives to screen me from a deserving punishment."

"What folly you speak, Burke! If I did not know you better, I should say
you grudged me the hospitality I have myself asked you for. One night to
rest,--and I need it much, if you knew but all,--and one day to speak to
Marie, and you have done with me. Is that too much?"

"No,--not if I did not betray a trust in sheltering you, far too little
to speak of, much less thank me for. But--"

"Do spare me these scruples, and let us take the shortest way to your
quarters. A supper and three chairs to sleep on, are worth all your
arguments, eloquent though they be."

We walked on together, almost in silence: I overwhelmed with fear for
the result should my conduct ever become known; he evidently chagrined
at my reception of him, and little disposed to make allowances for
scruples h