across the centre, and above the middle of the transom a tiny coat of
arms--three caltrops gules upon a field argent--let into the
diamond-paned glass. Outside there projected a stout iron rod, from
which hung a gilded miniature of a bale of wool which swung and squeaked
with every puff of wind. Beyond that again were the houses of the other
side, high, narrow, and prim, slashed with diagonal wood-work in front,
and topped with a bristle of sharp gables and corner turrets. Between
were the cobble-stones of the Rue St. Martin and the clatter of
innumerable feet.

Inside, the window was furnished with a broad bancal of brown stamped
Spanish leather, where the family might recline and have an eye from
behind the curtains on all that was going forward in the busy world
beneath them. Two of them sat there now, a man and a woman, but their
backs were turned to the spectacle, and their faces to the large and
richly furnished room. From time to time they stole a glance at each
other, and their eyes told that they needed no other sight to make them
happy.

Nor was it to be wondered at, for they were a well-favoured pair.
She was very young, twenty at the most, with a face which was pale,
indeed, and yet of a brilliant pallor, which was so clear and fresh, and
carried with it such a suggestion of purity and innocence, that one
would not wish its maiden grace to be marred by an intrusion of colour.
Her features were delicate and sweet, and her blue-black hair and long
dark eyelashes formed a piquant contrast to her dreamy gray eyes and her
ivory skin. In her whole expression there was something quiet and
subdued, which was accentuated by her simple dress of black taffeta, and
by the little jet brooch and bracelet which were her sole ornaments.
Such was Adele Catinat, the only daughter of the famous Huguenot
cloth-merchant.

But if her dress was sombre, it was atoned for by the magnificence of
her companion. He was a man who might have been ten years her senior,
with a keen soldier face, small well-marked features, a carefully
trimmed black moustache, and a dark hazel eye which might harden to
command a man, or soften to supplicate a woman, and be successful at
either. His coat was of sky-blue, slashed across with silver braidings,
and with broad silver shoulder-straps on either side. A vest of white
calamanca peeped out from beneath it, and knee-breeches of the same
disappeared into high polished boots with gilt spur