m and much about her, too. She would not believe him
until she had questioned him closely. As Mercier frankly answered her,
she understood with how improbable a tale Barrington had deceived her.
Mercier was quick with advice. He knew that Madame la Marquise had no
great affection for his friend Lucien. This other man might discover the
trick played upon him and frustrate them. A hundred things might prevent
mademoiselle from leaving the chateau if she delayed. To-night Beauvais
was crowded, it would be easy for her to go, and Jeanne had consented to
start in an hour.

She was proud, a daughter of a proud race. The nobility were suffering
many things at the hands of the people. This fellow Barrington should be
punished. Retaliation was justifiable. There was not a man in the
chateau of Beauvais who would not stand her champion. She sought out the
Vicomte de Montbard, told him that this foreigner had come to her with a
lying message from friends of hers in Paris. She had met deceit with
deceit, and at dawn he was to wait for her at the wood end.

"Mademoiselle, lackeys shall beat the life out of him," was the answer.

"No, not that way. Go to him yourself, challenge him. If underneath his
villainy there are concealed the instincts of a gentleman, let him have
the chance of dying like one. But go with one or two others, prepared
for treachery. He may be a scoundrel to the very core of his heart."

"Believe me, mademoiselle, you treat him far too courteously."

"Monsieur le Vicomte, he has touched me as an equal. I believed him to
be a man of honor. Let him so far profit by my mistake, and be punished
as I suggest."

"You shall be obeyed, mademoiselle. To-morrow I will do myself the honor
of visiting you to tell you how he met his punishment--his death."

It was not boastfully said. The Vicomte was one of the most accomplished
swordsmen in France.

Within an hour Jeanne St. Clair had left Beauvais.

All this came back to her most vividly as she sat alone in that upper
room of the Lion d'Or. In what manner had Richard Barrington taken his
punishment? She despised him for his mean deceit; by her direction he
had been punished; yet with the knowledge that he was a scoundrel came
the conviction that he was a brave man. The scene in that round chamber
took shape again. It was curious how completely she remembered his
attitude, his words, his manner, his looks; and not these only, but also
the something new in her life,