rquis, nevertheless remained skeptical.
He did not believe in the old saw about the devil being dead. '_Le
diable_ lives always,' he said."

The visitor observed a perceptible change in the young girl, just what
he could not define, but to him it seemed mostly to lie in her eyes
where something that baffled him looked out and met his glance.

"His brother was an officer in the French army?" she asked, as though
forcing herself to speak.

"Yes; ten years older than Ernest Saint-Prosper, he had already made a
career for himself. How eagerly, then, must the younger brother have
looked forward to meeting him; to serving with one who, in his young
eyes, was all that was brave and noble! What a bitter awakening from
the dream! It is not those we hate who can injure us most--only those
we love can stab us so deeply!"

Mechanically she answered the lawyer, and, when he prepared to leave,
the hand, given him at parting, was as cold as ice.

"Remember," he said, admonishingly; "less cloister, more city!"

Some hours later, the old lady, dressed in her heavy silk and brocade
and with snow-white hair done up in imposing fashion, rapped on
Constance's door, but received no answer. Knocking again, with like
result, she entered the room, discovering the young girl on the bed,
her cheeks tinted like the rose, her eyes with no gleam of recognition
in them, and her lips moving, uttering snatches of old plays. Taking
her hand, the old lady found it hot and dry.

"Bless me!" she exclaimed. "She is down with a fever." And at once
prepared a simple remedy which soon silenced the babbling lips in
slumber, after which she sent for the doctor.

CHAPTER VI

THE COUNCIL OF WAR

"Adjutant, tell Colonel Saint-Prosper I wish to see him."

The adjutant saluted and turned on his heel, while General Scott bent
over the papers before him, studying a number of rough pencil
tracings. Absorbed in his task, the light of two candles on the table
brought into relief, against the dark shadows, a face of rugged
character and marked determination. Save for a slight contraction of
the brow, he gave no evidence of the mental concentration he bestowed
upon the matter in hand, which was to lead to the culmination of the
struggle and to vindicate the wisdom and boldness of his policy.

"You sent for me, General?"

An erect, martial figure stood respectfully at the entrance of the
tent.

"Yes," said the General, pushing the papers from him. "