house where a Huguenot
had lived was wrecked; in many instances the window-sills were smeared
with blood, and dead bodies still lay thick in the streets. I shut my
eyes tightly, while my whole body was convulsed by a shudder of horror.

"Monsieur, we are at the gate. Turn your head to the left, so that the
officer may not see your face easily. If he asks questions, remember you
are Louis Bourdonais of Monseigneur's household."

"Halt! Who goes there?"

My companion looked out. "We are on Monseigneur's private business," he
exclaimed. "Here is his pass. Be quick, if you please, we are in a
hurry."

The officer took the paper and examined it closely, "Where is Louis
Bourdonais?" he asked.

"Here!" I said, bracing myself with an effort.

"I wish Monseigneur knew his own mind!" he grumbled, "my orders were to
let no one through!"

"Shall we go back and ask him to write down his reasons for the change?"
asked L'Estang; but the officer was already giving instructions for the
opening of the gate, and in a few minutes we were outside the walls.

CHAPTER XXVIII

Farewell France!

"The danger is over!" exclaimed my companion as we left the city behind
us; "lean back on the cushions and try to sleep."

"There are several questions I wish to ask first."

"I will answer them in the morning, when you have rested, but not now,"
he said firmly.

He had brought a number of cushions and rugs, and he tended me as
carefully as if I had been a delicate woman. And yet he was in the pay
of the brutal Anjou, and perhaps his own hands were not innocent of the
blood of my slain comrades!

It might have been that he guessed something of the thoughts passing
through my mind, for he exclaimed suddenly, "There is one thing I would
say, monsieur. This massacre is none of my seeking, and through it all
my sword has never left the scabbard except in your defence. The mercy
once shown to me I have shown again."

"You are a good fellow, L'Estang," I murmured, "and I thank you."

After that I fell asleep and in spite of the jolting of the carriage
did not waken until the sun was high in the heavens.

"You have wakened in time for breakfast," said my companion, who
appeared not to have slept at all; "in a few minutes we shall arrive at
an inn where I intend to halt. I am known there, and we shall be well
treated."

We stayed a couple of hours, during which time fresh horses were
procured and harnessed to the carriage, while