,' said Berenger, 'that all that could do me harm
should be delivered up! Besides,' he added, 'even had I the feeling for
my own honour and that of my wife and child, living or dead, the harm,
it seems to me, would be to those who withhold her lands from me.

'Ah, fair nephew! you have fallen among designing persons who have
filled your head with absurd claims; but I will not argue the point now,
since it becomes a family, not a State matter. These papers'--and
he took them into his hand--'must be examined, and to-morrow Captain
Delarue will take them to Paris, with any explanation you may desire
to offer. Meantime you and your companions remain my guest, at full
liberty, provided you will give me your parole to attempt no escape.

'No, sir,' said Berenger, hotly, 'we will not become our own jailers,
nor acquiesce in this unjust detention. I warn you that I am a
naturalized Englishman, acknowledged by the Queen as my grandfather's
heir, and the English Ambassador will inform the court what Queen
Elizabeth thinks of such dealings with her subjects.

'Well said,' exclaimed Philip, and drawing himself up, he added,
'I refuse my parole, and warn you that it is at your peril that you
imprison an Englishman.

'Very well, gentlemen,' said the Chevalier; 'the difference will be that
I shall unwillingly be forced to let Captain Delarue post guards at the
outlets of this tower. A room beneath is prepared for your grooms,
and the court is likewise free to you. I will endeavour to make your
detention as little irksome as you will permit, and meantime allow me
to show you your sleeping chamber. He then politely, as if he had been
ushering a prince to his apartment, led the way, pointing to the door
through which they had entered the keep, and saying, 'This is the only
present communication with the dwelling-house. Two gendarmes will always
be on the outside.' He conducted the young men up a stone spiral stair
to another room, over that which they had already seen, and furnished as
fairly as ordinary sleeping chambers were wont to be.

Here, said their compulsory host, he would leave them to prepare for
supper, when they would do him the honour to join him in the eating-hall
on their summons by the steward.

His departing bow was duly returned by Berenger, but no sooner did his
steps die away on the stairs than the young man threw himself down on
his bed, in a paroxysm of suffering both mental and bodily.

'Berry, Berry, what