which had been taken from me, and had been
picked up by him on the road. A few minutes later Bubbleton lost a sum
at cards to Crofts; knowing he could not pay, I passed a note quietly to
him. When Bubbleton had gone, Crofts held up the note before me. It was
a French note of De Meudon's! I demanded my property back. He refused,
and threatened to inform against me. On my seeking to prevent him from
leaving the room, he drew his sword, and wounded me; but in the nick of
time a blow from a strong arm laid him senseless--dead, perhaps--on the
floor.

"We must be far from this by daybreak," whispered Darby.

I walked out of the barracks as steadily as I could. For all I knew, I
was implicated in murder--and Ireland was no place for me. In a few days
I stood on the shores of France.

_II.--A Blow for the Emperor_

By means of a letter of introduction to the head of the Polytechnique,
which De Meudon had placed for me in his pocket-book, I was able to
enter that military college, and, after a spell of earnest study, I was
appointed to a commission in the Eighth Hussars. Proud as I was to
become a soldier of France, yet I could not but feel that I was a
foreigner, and almost friendless--unlucky, indeed, in the choice of the
few friends I possessed. Chief of them was the Marquis de Beauvais,
concerning whom I soon made two discoveries--that he was in the thick of
an intrigue against the republic I served, and its First Consul, and
that he was in love with Marie de Meudon, my dead friend's sister.

To her, as soon as an opportunity came, I gave the news of her brother's
end, and his last message. She was terribly affected; and the love we
bore in common to the dead, and her own wonderful beauty, aroused in me
a passion that was not the less fervent because I felt it was almost
hopeless. I did not dare to ask her love, but I had her friendship
without asking. She it was who warned me of the dangerous intrigues of
De Beauvais and his associates. She it was who, when I fell a victim to
their intrigues, laboured with General d'Auvergne, who had befriended me
while I was at college, to restore me to liberty.

I had heard that De Beauvais and his fellow royalists were plotting in a
chateau near Versailles, and that a scheme was afoot to capture them. In
hot haste I rode to the chateau, hoping secretly to warn my friend. He
did indeed escape, but it was my lot to be caught with the conspirators.
For the second time in my shor