s tone that one without the pale might
inquire no further. He only asked how safe and honourable shelter could
be found for her; and the cure replied that he had already spoken to her
of the convent of Lucon, and should take her there so soon as it could
safely be done, and that Abbess Monique, he trusted, would assist her
crushed spirit in finding the path of penitence. He thought her cousin
had better not endeavour to see her again; and Berenger himself was
ready to forget her very existence in his burning anxiety to outstrip
Narcisse in the quest of Eustacie.

CHAPTER XLI. OUR LADY OF HOPE

Welcome to danger's hour,
Brief greeting serves the time of strife.
--SCOTT

As soon as it was possible to leave Nissard, Berenger was on his way
back to head-quarters, where he hoped to meet the Duke de Quinet among
the many Huguenot gentlemen who were flocking to the Bourbon standard;
nor was he disappointed in the hope, for he was presented to a handsome
middle-aged gentleman, who told him, with much politeness, that his
mother had had the honour to receive and entertain Mme. de Ribaumont and
that some months ago he had himself arranged for the conveyance of
her letters to England, but, he said, with a smile, he made a point of
knowing nothing of his mother's guests, lest his duties as a governor
might clash with those of hospitality. He offered to expedite M. de
Ribaumont's journey to Quinet, observing that, if Nid de Merle were,
indeed, on the point of seizing the lady, it must be by treachery;
indeed he had, not ten days back, had the satisfaction of hanging
an Italian mountebank who had last year stolen a whole packet of
dispatches, among them letters from Mme. de Ribaumont, and the fellow
was probably acting as a spy upon her, so that no time was to be lost in
learning from his mother where she was. On the next morning he was about
to send forward twenty men to reinforce a little frontier garrison on
the river Dronne, and as M. le Baron must pass through the place, it
would be conferring a favour on him to take the command. The men were
all well mounted, and would not delay; and when once across the frontier
of Guyenne, no escort would be needed.

Berenger gladly accepted the proposal. It did not occur to him that
he was thus involved in the civil war, and bearing arms against the
sovereign. In spite of Queen Elisabeth's alliance with the French court,
she co