ve charge, but at this last his anger boiled over, and he
hurried forward with fury in his face, dragging his elderly companion by
the elbow. They had been passing through one of those winding paths,
bordered by high hedges, which thinned away every here and there to give
a glimpse of some prowling faun or weary nymph who slumbered in marble
amid the foliage. The few courtiers who met them gazed with surprise at
so ill-assorted a pair of companions. But the young soldier was too
full of his own plans to waste a thought upon their speculations. Still
hurrying on, he followed a crescent path which led past a dozen stone
dolphins shooting water out of their mouths over a group of Tritons, and
so through an avenue of great trees which looked as if they had grown
there for centuries, and yet had in truth been carried over that very
year by incredible labour from St. Germain and Fontainebleau. Beyond
this point a small gate led out of the grounds, and it was through it
that the two passed, the elder man puffing and panting with this unusual
haste.

"How did you come, uncle?"

"In a caleche."

"Where is it?"

"That is it, beyond the auberge."

"Come, let us make for it."

"And you, Amory, are you coming?"

"My faith, it is time that I came, from what you tell me. There is room
for a man with a sword at his side in this establishment of yours."

"But what would you do?"

"I would have a word with this Captain Dalbert."

"Then I have wronged you, nephew, when I said even now that you were not
whole-hearted towards Israel."

"I know not about Israel," cried De Catinat impatiently. "I only know
that if my Adele chose to worship the thunder like an Abenaqui squaw, or
turned her innocent prayers to the Mitche Manitou, I should like to set
eyes upon the man who would dare to lay a hand upon her. Ha, here comes
our caleche! Whip up, driver, and five livres to you if you pass the
gate of the Invalides within the hour."

It was no light matter to drive fast in an age of springless carriages
and deeply rutted roads, but the driver lashed at his two rough
unclipped horses, and the caleche jolted and clattered upon its way. As
they sped on, with the road-side trees dancing past the narrow windows,
and the white dust streaming behind them, the guardsman drummed his
fingers upon his knees, and fidgeted in his seat with impatience,
shooting an occasional question across at his grim companion.

"When was all this, the