into the hall, where the
dead man still lay uncoffined upon the bed where his own hands had laid
him, and the low, sweet requiem of kneeling priests floated round him.
Rest, rest, and calm they breathed into one sorely tried living soul,
and the perturbed heart was quelled by the sense how short the passage
was to the world where captivity and longing would be ended. He beckoned
to Pere Bonami to return to Diane, and then, protected by his presence
from any further demonstrations, kissed her hand and left her.

He told Philip as little as possible of this interview, but his brother
remarked how much time he spent over the Psalms that evening.

The next day the brothers saw from their upper winder the arrival of
Narcisse, or, as he had called himself for the last three years, the
Marquis de Nid-de-Merle, with many attendant gentlemen, and a band of
fifty or sixty gendarmes. The court was filled with their horses, and
rang with their calls for refreshment. And the captives judged it wise
to remain in their upper room incase they should be called for.

They were proved to have been wise in so doing; for about an hour after
their arrival there was a great clanging of steel boots, and Narcisse
de Ribaumont, followed by a portly, heavily-armed gentleman, wearing a
scarf of office, by two of the servants, and by two gendarmes, entered
the room. It was the first time the cousins had met since _le baiser
d'Eutacie_ had been hissed into Berenger's ear. Narcisse looked older,
sallower, and more worn than at that time; and Philip, seeing his
enemy for the first time, contrasted him with the stately presence of
Berenger, and felt as if a rat were strangling a noble steed.

Each young man punctiliously removed his hat, and Nid-de-Merle, without
deigning further salutation, addressed his companion. 'Sir, you are here
on the part of the King, and to you I deliver up these prisoners, who,
having been detained here on a charge of carrying on a treasonable
correspondence, and protected by my father out of consideration for the
family, have requited his goodness by an attempt to strangle him, which
has caused his death.'

Philip actually made a leap of indignation; Berenger, better prepared,
said to the officer, 'Sir, I am happy to be placed in charged of a
King's servant, who will no doubt see justice done, and shelter us from
the private malice that could alone devise so monstrous an accusation.
We are ready to clear ourselves upon