nt watch these gallant gentlemen were keeping. M. de
Cocheforet might have been with her in the garden, might have talked
with her as I had talked, might have entered the house even, and passed
under their noses scot-free. But that is the way of soldiers. They are
always ready for the enemy, with drums beating and flags flying--at ten
o'clock in the morning. But he does not always come at that hour.

I waited a little, and then I groped my way to the door and knocked on
it with the hilt of my sword. The dogs began to bark at the back, and
the chorus of a drinking-song, which came fitfully from the east wing,
ceased altogether. An inner door opened, and an angry voice, apparently
an officer's, began to rate someone for not coming. Another moment, and
a clamour of voices and footsteps seemed to pour into the hall, and
fill it. I heard the bar jerked away, the door was flung open, and in
a twinkling a lanthorn, behind which a dozen flushed visages were dimly
seen, was thrust into my face.

'Why, who the fiend is this?' one cried, glaring at me in astonishment.

'MORBLEU! It is the man!' another shrieked. 'Seize him!'

In a moment half a dozen hands were laid on my shoulders, but I only
bowed politely.

'The officer, my friends,' I said, 'M. le Capitaine Larolle. 'Where is
he?'

'DIABLE! but who are you, first?' the lanthorn-bearer retorted bluntly.
He was a tall, lanky sergeant, with a sinister face.

'Well, I am not M. de Cocheforet,' I replied; 'and that must satisfy
you, my man. For the rest, if you do not fetch Captain Larolle at once
and admit me, you will find the consequences inconvenient.'

'Ho! ho!' he said with a sneer. 'You can crow, it seems. Well, come in.'

They made way, and I walked into the hall keeping my hat on. On the
great hearth a fire had been kindled, but it had gone out. Three or
four carbines stood against one wall, and beside them lay a heap of
haversacks and some straw. A shattered stool, broken in a frolic, and
half a dozen empty wine-skins strewed the floor, and helped to give the
place an air of untidiness and disorder. I looked round with eyes of
disgust, and my gorge rose. They had spilled oil, and the place reeked
foully.

'VENTRE BLEU!' I said. 'Is this conduct in a gentleman's house, you
rascals? MA VIE! If I had you I would send half of you to the wooden
horse!'

They gazed at me open-mouthed; my arrogance startled them. The sergeant
alone scowled. When he could find his vo