ders of her master.

"Dame!" said he, "I think you are a faithful servant. I have trusted you
with much. Can I trust you with a greater matter still?"

"Oh, your Excellency! I would die to serve so noble and generous a
master! It is a servant's duty!"

"Few servants think so, nor do I! But you have been faithful to your
charge respecting this poor lady within, have you not, dame?" Bigot
looked as if his eyes searched her very vitals.

"O Lord! O Lord!" thought the dame, turning pale. "He has heard about
the visit of that cursed Mere Malheur, and he has come to hang me up for
it in the gallery!" She stammered out in reply, "Oh, yes! I have been
faithful to my charge about the lady, your Excellency! I have not failed
wilfully or negligently in any one point, I assure you! I have been at
once careful and kind to her, as you bade me to be, your Excellency.
Indeed, I could not be otherwise to a live angel in the house like her!"

"So I believe, dame!" said Bigot, in a tone of approval that quite
lifted her heart. This spontaneous praise of Caroline touched him
somewhat. "You have done well! Now can you keep another secret, dame?"

"A secret! and entrusted to me by your Excellency!" replied she, in a
voice of wonder at such a question. "The marble statue in the grotto is
not closer than I am, your Excellency. I was always too fond of a secret
ever to part with it! When I was the Charming Josephine of Lake Beauport
I never told, even in confession, who they were who--"

"Tut! I will trust you, dame, better than I would have trusted the
Charming Josephine! If all tales be true, you were a gay girl, dame, and
a handsome one in those days, I have heard!" added the Intendant, with
well-planned flattery.

A smile and a look of intelligence between the dame and Bigot followed
this sally, while Cadet had much to do to keep in one of the hearty
horse-laughs he used to indulge in, and which would have roused the
whole Chateau.

The flattery of the Intendant quite captivated the dame. "I will go
through fire and water to serve your Excellency, if you want me," said
she. "What shall I do to oblige your Excellency?"

"Well, dame, you must know then that the Sieur Cadet and I have come
to remove that dear lady from the Chateau to another place, where it is
needful for her to go for the present time; and if you are questioned
about her, mind you are to say she never was here, and you know nothing
of her!"

"I will not only say