" said he; "and who gave you permission to
enter this chapel?"

"One who has a great mind to send you all out by the window," replied
the regent, "but who will content himself at present with begging you to
order M. de Riom to set out at once for Cognac, and to intimate to the
Duchesse de Berry that she had better absent herself from the Palais
Royal."

The regent went out, signing to Dubois to follow; and, leaving M. de
Mouchy bewildered at his appearance, returned to the Palais Royal.

That evening the regent wrote a letter, and ringing for a valet:

"Take care that this letter is dispatched by an express courier
to-morrow morning, and is delivered only to the person to whom it is
addressed."

That person was Madame Ursule, Superior of the Ursuline Convent at
Clisson.

CHAPTER III.

WHAT PASSED THREE NIGHTS LATER AT EIGHT HUNDRED LEAGUES FROM THE PALAIS
ROYAL.

Three nights after that on which we have seen the regent, first at
Chelles and then at Meudon, a scene passed in the environs of Nantes
which cannot be omitted in this history; we will therefore exercise our
privilege of transporting the reader to that place.

On the road to Clisson, two or three miles from Nantes--near the convent
known as the residence of Abelard--was a large dark house, surrounded by
thick stunted trees; hedges everywhere surrounded the inclosure outside
the walls, hedges impervious to the sight, and only interrupted by a
wicket gate.

This gate led into a garden, at the end of which was a wall, having a
small, massive, and closed door. From a distance this grave and dismal
residence appeared like a prison; it was, however, a convent, full of
young Augustines, subject to a rule lenient as compared with provincial
customs, but rigid as compared with those of Paris.

The house was inaccessible on three sides, but the fourth, which did not
face the road, abutted on a large sheet of water; and ten feet above its
surface were the windows of the refectory.

This little lake was carefully guarded, and was surrounded by high
wooden palisades. A single iron gate opened into it, and at the same
time gave a passage to the waters of a small rivulet which fed the lake,
and the water had egress at the opposite end.

In the summer, a small boat belonging to the garden was seen on the
water, and was used for fishing.

Sometimes, also, in summer, on dark nights, the river-gate was
mysteriously opened, and a man, wrapped in a large