oon will be."

Two of the musketeers bore him into the inn and laid him on the floor of
the very room in which, an hour or so ago, he had driven a bargain with
Roxalanne. A cloak rolled into a pillow was thrust under his head,
and there we left him in charge of his captors, the landlord,
Saint-Eustache, and La Fosse the latter inspired, I doubt not, by that
morbidity which is so often a feature of the poetic mind, and which
impelled him now to witness the death-agony of my Lord of Chatellerault.

Myself, having resumed my garments, I disposed myself to repair at once
to the Hotel de l'Epee, there to seek Roxalanne, that I might set her
fears and sorrows at rest, and that I might at last make my confession.

As we stepped out into the street, where the dusk was now thickening,
I turned to Castelroux to inquire how Saint-Eustache came into
Chatellerault's company.

"He is of the family of the Iscariot, I should opine," answered the
Gascon. "As soon as he had news that Chatellerault was come to Languedoc
as the King's Commissioner, he repaired to him to offer his services
in the work of bringing rebels to justice. He urged that his thorough
acquaintance with the province should render him of value to the King,
as also that he had had particular opportunities of becoming acquainted
with many treasonable dealings on the part of men whom the State was far
from suspecting."

"Mort Dieu!" I cried, "I had suspected something of such a nature. You
do well to call him of the family of the Iscariot. He is more so than
you imagine: I have knowledge of this--ample knowledge. He was
until lately a rebel himself, and himself a follower of Gaston
d'Orleans--though of a lukewarm quality. What reasons have driven him to
such work, do you know?"

"The same reason that impelled his forefather, Judas of old. The desire
to enrich himself. For every hitherto unsuspected rebel that shall be
brought to justice and whose treason shall be proven by his agency, he
claims the half of that rebel's confiscated estates."

"Diable!" I exclaimed. "And does the Keeper of the Seals sanction this?"

"Sanction it? Saint-Eustache holds a commission, has a free hand and a
company of horse to follow him in his rebel-hunting."

"Has he done much so far?" was my next question.

"He has reduced half a dozen noblemen and their families. The wealth he
must thereby have amassed should be very considerable, indeed."

"To-morrow, Castelroux, I will see the