e
for the lady who is to be your wife. Your love will hardly grudge me
them."

"I believe I might have found a dangerous rival, were you not a man of
honor," said Bruslart. "We understand each other better than we did this
morning. Heavens! what a wealth of hours seem to have passed since
then. We fight together for mademoiselle's safety. I will go at once to
the Abbaye, that is the prison you think they were going to. And you,
monsieur, what will you do?"

"I shall set my servant to watch Latour, and there are one or two others
in this city whose movements will interest me."

"You must be careful of Latour."

"He will be wise to be careful of me too. There is some aristocrat
Raymond Latour would do all in his power to help. That is a secret we
may use against him if necessary."

"Did he tell you that?"

"We became friends over a bottle of wine."

"Ah, men boast and tell lies over their wine," Bruslart answered, "and
for his own ends Latour can lie very convincingly. Will you come to me
here to-morrow night? I may have accomplished something by then."

They left the house together, but parted in the street, Barrington
returning to the house of Monsieur Fargeau to plan with Seth the close
watching of Latour's movements, Bruslart going in the direction of the
prison of the Abbaye.

Bruslart's pace was rapid for a short distance, then he went more slowly
and thoughtfully; but there was no relapse into the despair in which
Barrington had found him that evening. Contact with a strong man, and
the compact made with him, had apparently restored his nerves, and no
one knew better than he did how necessary it was to have every faculty
in working order at the present moment. He had told Barrington that he
was in no danger from the fact of mademoiselle having been arrested in
his apartments, and if this were not quite true, he felt certain that he
could evade the danger by presenting a bold front to it. The desire to
convince himself that this was possible became stronger as he proceeded
slowly, and opportunity to put his conviction to the test might easily
be found.

"There would be no one at the prison to-night on whom I could make any
useful impression," he said to himself. "I shall gain more by swaggering
to the crowd."

He quickened his pace, but not in the direction of the prison. He turned
into a side street, at the corner of which was a broken lamp bracket
used for hanging a man not a week ago. He glanced up