of a tempestuous wind;
then--nothing.

CHAPTER V. THE VICOMTE DE LAVEDAN

When next I awakened, it was to find myself abed in an elegant
apartment, spacious and sunlit, that was utterly strange to me. For some
seconds I was content to lie and take no count of my whereabouts. My
eyes travelled idly over the handsome furnishings of that choicely
appointed chamber, and rested at last upon the lean, crooked figure of
a man whose back was towards me and who was busy with some phials at a
table not far distant. Then recollection awakened also in me, and I set
my wits to work to grapple with my surroundings. I looked through the
open window, but from my position on the bed no more was visible than
the blue sky and a faint haze of distant hills.

I taxed my memory, and the events of yesternight recurred to me. I
remembered the girl, the balcony, and my flight ending in my giddiness
and my fall. Had they brought me into that same chateau, or--Or what? No
other possibility came to suggest itself, and, seeing scant need to tax
my brains with speculation, since there was one there of whom I might
ask the question--

"Hola, my master!" I called to him, and as I did so I essayed to move.
The act wrung a sharp cry of pain from me. My left shoulder was numb
and sore, but in my right foot that sudden movement had roused a sharper
pang.

At my cry that little wizened old man swung suddenly round. He had the
face of a bird of prey, yellow as a louis d'or with a great hooked nose,
and a pair of beady black eyes that observed me solemnly. The mouth
alone was the redeeming feature in a countenance that had otherwise
been evil; it was instinct with good-humour. But I had small leisure
to observe him then, for simultaneously with his turning there had
been another movement at my bedside, which drew my eyes elsewhere. A
gentleman, richly dressed, and of an imposing height, approached me.

"You are awake, monsieur?" he said in a half interrogative tone.

"Will you do me the favour to tell me where I am, monsieur?" quoth I.

"You do not know? You are at Lavedan. I am the Vicomte de Lavedan--at
your service."

Although it was no more than I might have expected, yet a dull wonder
filled me, to which presently I gave expression by asking stupidly--

"At Lavedan? But how came I hither?"

"How you came is more than I can tell," he laughed. "But I'll swear the
King's dragoons were not far behind you. We found you in the courtyard