y the hideous role which he had assumed, to save the girl's honor.
The Marquis had not the faintest suspicion that there was anything
wrong in the situation, or even that his niece had actually given her
heart to this man. Such a thought could not be entertained at all.

It was inconceivable, but he knew that, however innocent might have
been that meeting, if it had been prearranged the world would consider
the Countess disgraced, unless the explanation which Marteau had
suggested was allowed to become current. He had summoned his niece
before him, and had sought in every way to force her to tell him the
whole truth, but she had partaken, in some degree, of Marteau's
stubbornness. All she would say was, that Marteau was innocent of any
crime or any wrong. But, when the bewildered Marquis asked her if she
had invited him there, and if he was there by her permission, she had
indignantly repudiated the suggestion as an insult, which left him more
puzzled than before.

The idea that Marteau had come there to hide the Eagle had never
entered the Marquis' mind for all his acuteness. He had asked the girl
whether Marteau had brought anything into the room or taken anything
from it, and she had answered truthfully that when she saw him he had
been exactly as when they saw him. The testimony of the Marquis and
the two Englishmen rendered it unnecessary for the Countess to be
present at the court-martial. There was nothing material she could
add, and, indeed, it was not for attempted theft, or assault, that
Marteau had been condemned--the Marquis had suppressed that as much as
possible--but for his conduct with the Eagle.

It was the fifth of March, a warm and sunny day in the south of France,
even amid the mountains and hills of ancient Dauphine. Great things
were toward, although the Marquis did not yet know it. The execution
of the condemned was set for the next day. At ten o'clock in the
morning the regiment was to be paraded and Marteau was to be shot. He
had asked that he might be granted a soldier's death, and the Marquis
had seen fit to grant the request.

There were very few troops in Grenoble which could be counted as loyal
to the King, but there were some. From them the Marquis intended to
draw his firing party, and with them he intended to over-awe the
regiment if there should be any outbreak. He was too keen a judge of
humanity, and too well able to read the characters of men not to
realize the whole