ke of Anjou? Or M. de
Guise, our great man? Or the Admiral? Say the Admiral foot to foot?"

Rage and fear--rage at the intrusion, fear of the intruder--struggled
in the priest's face. "How do you come here, and what do you want?"
he inquired hoarsely. If looks and tones could kill, we three,
trembling behind our flimsy screen, had been freed at that moment from
our enemy.

"I have come in search of the young birds whose necks you were for
stretching, my friend!" was Bezers' answer. "They have vanished.
Birds they must be, for unless they have come into this house by that
window, they have flown away with wings."

"They have not passed this way," the priest declared stoutly, eager
only to get rid of the other and I blessed him for the words! "I have
been here since I left you."

But the Vidame was not one to accept any man's statement. "Thank you;
I think I will see for myself," he answered coolly. "Madame," he
continued, speaking to Madame de Pavannes as he passed her, "permit me."

He did not look at her, or see her emotion, or I think he must have
divined our presence. And happily the others did not suspect her of
knowing more than they did. He crossed the floor at his leisure, and
sauntered to the window, watched by them with impatience. He drew
aside the curtain, and tried each of the bars, and peered through the
opening both up and down, An oath and an expression of wonder escaped
him. The bars were standing, and firm and strong; and it did not occur
to him that we could have passed between them. I am afraid to say how
few inches they were apart.

As he turned, he cast a casual glance at the bed--at us; and hesitated.
He had the candle in his hand, having taken it to the window the better
to examine the bars; and it obscured his sight. He did not see us. The
three crouching forms, the strained white faces, the starting eyes,
that lurked in the shadow of the curtain escaped him. The wild beating
of our hearts did not reach his ears. And it was well for him that it
was so. If he had come up to the bed I think that we should have
killed him, I know that we should have tried. All the blood in me had
gone to my head, and I saw him through a haze--larger than life. The
exact spot near the buckle of his cloak where I would strike him,
downwards and inwards, an inch above the collar-bone,--this only I saw
clearly. I could not have missed it. But he turned away, his face
darkening, and went back