they are in bed, I have heard the servants say."

"Then I will leave my room at half-past eleven, but will make sure that
the hall is dark and empty before I proceed."

"And may the saints aid you, Monsieur, when you have to do with the men
at the tower!"

"The men will not be expecting me, that is one advantage," said I,
trying to seem calm, but trembling with excitement. "If all goes well,
we should be out of the chateau soon after midnight."

"And at Hugues's house before one o'clock. You should be on
horseback--the Countess and you--by half-past one. Have you money,
Monsieur?"

"Yes,--this purse is nearly as full as when I left home."

"That is well, for Madame has none, and I don't know how much Hugues
could get together in ten minutes. I have ten crowns in his strong-box,
which Madame shall have."

"They shall stay in Hugues's strong-box, and his own money too. I have
enough."

"Then I believe that is all, Monsieur, and I'd better be going back. Be
on the watch for Brigitte with the key. Do you think of anything else?"

We went hurriedly over the various details of the plan, and then she
took her leave, darting along the passage as swiftly as a greyhound and
as silently as a ghost. I sat down to think upon what I had undertaken,
but my mind was in a whirl. Strangely enough, I, the victor of a single
duel, did not shrink from the idea of killing the two guards--or as many
as there might be. Perhaps this was because they were sure to be rascals
whose lives one could not value very highly, especially as against that
of the Countess. Nor did I feel greatly the odds against me, in regard
both to their number and to my inexperience in such business. Perhaps
the apparent confidence of Mathilde in my ability to dispose of them--a
confidence based on my being a gentleman and they underlings--infected
me. And yet I chose not to go too deeply into the probabilities. My
safest course, for my courage, was not to think too much, but to wait
for the moment and then do my best.

It seemed but a short time till there was a tap at my door, and in came
the real Brigitte.

"Mathilde got back safe, Monsieur; she was not detected," she said, and
handed me a large key.

Ere more could pass, she was gone. I put the key in my breast pocket. It
was now time I should show myself to the Count and his friend at table;
which I proceeded to do, as boldly as if I had entertained no design
against them. They were just back from the